Maslionaland Birds. 
233 
water wherever there are thickets sufficiently dense to suit 
them. Their almost incessant harsh chatter becomes very 
wearisome after a time. They feed entirely on the. ground, 
scratching noisily among the reeds or undergrowth. The 
stomachs examined contained chiefly ants, but also a few 
beetles and crickets. 
43. Parus afer. (South-African Tit.) 
Not uncommon in the mosasa-bush ; it closely resembles 
the European Great Tit in general habits. 
44. Parus niger. (Black-and-White Tit.) 
Noticeably scarcer than the preceding species, which it 
resembles in habits, though I have occasionally noticed a pair 
hawking for insects in the air, just like Flycatchers. 
45. Parus pallidiventris. (Pale-bellied Tit.) 
This species, which has not previously been recorded to 
the south of the Zambesi, was kindly identified for me by 
Capt. Shelley. I shot one of a pair in August 1898 on a farm 
nine miles east of Salisbury, and subsequently observed 
another pair in October in the same locality, these being the 
only examples which have come under my notice. In both 
cases they were busily engaged in searching the young shoots 
of mosasa-trees for phytophagous beetles in true Tit-fashion, 
occasionally uttering a loud churring call, very similar to 
that of P. niger. 
46. ^Egithalus caroli. (Andersson's Penduline Tit.) 
This little bird is not uncommon, but seems to be more 
in evidence during the winter months. Three or four indi¬ 
viduals are usually found together assiduously investigating 
low trees and bushes, but they are especially fond of several 
kinds of very tall flowers, on which they find an abundance 
of minute insects. I have heard only a faint chirping note 
uttered. 
47. Telephonus erythropterus. (Cape Red-winged 
Bush-Shrike.) 
Recorded by Mr. Ayres from the Umfuli, but I have not 
yet succeeded in recognizing the species*. 
* [Probably the same as T. senegalus, the next species. —Edd.J 
