54 
Mr. G. L. Bates— Field-Notes on the 
tails—for display, not because of any difficulty in supporting 
them. Sometimes an individual remains in the air at one spot 
for some moments, fluttering its wings and waving its tail. 
While doing this I have heard one make a vigorous twittering 
noise; another, perched on a dead tree, was heard to sing 
a few notes that could really be called a song. 
These birds have been seen in their breeding-plumage and 
recorded in June, July, and August, while probably they keep 
it longer—perhaps for the same months as Pyromelana, of 
which an account was given above. 
1545. Passer griseits. [Mvakumba.] 
Sharpe, Ibis, 1908, p. 342. 
The nests of these Sparrows are loose piles of trash, 
including feathers of fowls. They are placed in all sorts 
of situations about a village, such as on the ridge-poles of 
houses under the projecting roofs, and in bunches of plantains 
and bananas growing behind the dwellings. Two eggs or 
nestlings are found in a nest. The eggs measure 21 x 15 mm. 
[The eggs are of a rather broad pointed oval shape and 
slightly glossy. The ground-colour is white or yellowish- 
white, heavily blotched and spotted over the greater part of 
the shell with dark lilac-grey and umber-brown. In one egg 
the grey markings predominate and a good deal of the 
ground-colour is visible; in the second the brown markings 
are numerous and cover the greater part of the shell.— 
O.-G.] 
1614. Emberiza cabanisi. 
Sharpe, Ibis, 1908, p. 342. 
The Bunting of this country sings a well-marked little 
song—not very pretty, but a song in intention,—which can 
never be mistaken when once heard. It sings perched on a 
twig in some of the smaller trees of the open land around 
the villages. The white on its outer tail-feathers, seen from 
beneath, gives the tail the appearance of being forked. 
1630. Motacilla vidua. [Amalaka.] 
Sharpe, Ibis, 1908, p. 341. 
On the few occasions on which I have seen this (or a 
