232 
Mr. Guy A. K. Marshall on 
in a jerky erratic manner, making at intervals a loud snapping 
noise with its wings, which can be heard at a considerable 
distance, even when the bird is almost out of sight. It makes 
a beautiful little nest of spiders'-web and white down, in the 
shape of a long bag, open at the top, and attached at the 
sides to stems of long grass, which are drawn together all 
round, and thus conceal it. The eggs are usually four or 
five in number, but a nest I found at Estcourt, Natal, and off 
which I caught the female in a butterfly-net, contained 
seven; six of these being of the normal colour, white with 
rusty-brown blotches and underlying spots of purplish grey, 
while the seventh was white sparsely covered with small 
black spots. 
39. Cisticola natalensis. (Natal Fantail.) 
A solitary bird, but fairly common, both in the open 
veldt and in bush, though preferring the former where the 
grass is long. 
40. Cisticola subruficapilla. (Grey-backed Fantail.) 
This species is the commonest of the genus round Salisbury, 
occurring right in the town and breeding in the small bushes 
that grow on the termite-heaps. The nest is fairly sub¬ 
stantial, formed of woven grass, domed and with a slight 
porch; the outside is often bound with spiders'-web, and it 
is thickly lined with white down. The eggs are usually 
four in number and of a pale blue colour, with numerous 
small freckles and spots of rich purplish brown and pale 
yellowish brown, and underlying spots of violet-grey ; the 
markings are chiefly confined to the larger end, often 
forming a zone, and occasionally a distinct cap. If the nest 
is disturbed the birds will often remove the eggs. 
41. Pinarornis plumosus. (Sooty-brown Chat-Thrush.) 
Mr. Ayres observed only two examples of this rare bird 
on the Umfuli river. 
42. Crateropus jardinii. (Jardine's Babbling Thrush.) 
These noisy and restless birds are found commonly along 
all the streams in the country in flocks of six or eight, but 
they also occur among rocky kopjes at some distance from 
