its sole food.” Mr. Thomas Ayres also observes:—"This species
frequents long coarse grass in the valleys and on the hill-sides ; its
flight is tolerably strong, and it does not attempt to hide when disturbed,
but at once takes wing.” We have seen a considerable
number of specimens from the neighbourhood of Pinetown
collected by Mr. T. L. Ayres and now in Captain Shelley’s possession.
Mr. T. E. Buckley shot a male near Pietermaritzburg on the 2nd of
May, 1878, and writes :—" I only observed this one specimen, which
I shot among some small reeds by a small stream: it was rather
shy.” During his recent excursion to south-eastern Africa he also
procured two examples in Suaziland on the 19th of June, 1876.
Adult male.—General colour clear tawny brown, with paler and
more fulvous margins to the feathers of the back, all th'e upper surface
broadly streaked with black down the centre of the feathers,
these black streaks slightly shaded on each side with rufous; wing-
coverts dark brown, externally fulvous, rather inclining to ashy buff
on the median series; primaries dark brown, tipped with whitish
and externally sandy rufous, the inner secondaries blackish in the
centre, edged all round with broad margins of tawny buff; rump
uniform ashy fulvous; upper tail-eoverts tawny buff, mesially
streaked with blackish; the tail-feathers dark brown with margins
of clear tawny buff, the centre feathers paler at tip with a faintly-
indicated subterminal bar of black : this subterminal bar very distinct
and broad on all the other feathers, which are conspicuously
tipped with pale tawny-buff, the outermost feathers being externally
edged with the latter colour and only having the black subterminal
bar on the inner web; lores dull whitish; feathers round the eye
light fulvous, as also a very faint eyebrow ; cheeks and sides of
face yellowish buff, with a shade of brown on the ear-coverts;
throat white, as also the centre,of the abdomen; rest of under
surface of body tawny yellow, browner on the sides of the upper
breast; the under wing- and tail-coverts tawny, the edge of the
wing whitish : quills ashy brown below, the inner web rufous from
the base upwards; thighs deep tawny rufous; “ bill yellow, the
culmen black; legs light brown; iris dark hazel” (Buckley).
Total length,6'5 inches; culmen, 0"75; wing,2"9; tail, 3‘28; tarsus, 1'2.
The female is smaller. Total length, 5'6 inches; culmen, 0’6;
wing, 2'45; tail, 2'7; tarsus, l -05.
Fig. Smith, 111. Zool. S. Afr. Aves, PI. 80.
247. Cisticola CURVIR0STEI8. Brown Fantail Warbler.
Drymoiea eurvirostris, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 93.
This species is a little smaller than the foregoing, which it
resembles in its stout bill. We have only seen it from Natal, where
it is one of the most recognisable of the Grass-Warblers on account
of its brown coloration and large size. Mr. Thomas Ayres writes :—
“ These birds frequent long grass in the more open country; their
flight is comparatively strong; during the breeding season they are
fond of mounting high in the air, uttering at the same time a very
loud and harsh chucking note; their food appears to consist of
crickets and other good-sized insects.” We have also seen several
skins sent to Captain Shelley by Mr. T. L. Ayres from Durban and
Pinetown.
Adult male.—General colour above brown, all the feathers
margined with ashy buff, giving a strikingly grey appearance to
the upper surface, the head more or less uniform brown without dark
mesial streaks; the feathers of the hinder neck slightly margined
with sandy colour ; wing-coverts brown, the edgings to the majority
clear grey, the least and some of the greater series margined with
sandy; quills dark brown with indistinct light tips, the primaries
edged with rufous sandy, the inner secondaries margined all round
with light buff; rump and upper tail-coverts nearly uniform greyish,
the latter with dark brown bases, or centres to the feathers, giving
a streaked mottled appearance; tail ashy brown, tipped with white
and faintly margined with pale sandy; the white tips indistinct on
the two centre feathers which have a plain subterminal bar of black,
as also have all the other feathers; lores yellowish white; eyebrow
greyish; sides of face dull white, the ear-coverts washed with
greyish brown and narrowly streaked with white down the shaft;
sides of neck greyish; throat and centre of the body white; the
sides dull tawny yellow, the upper breast laterally ashy brown;
thighs deep tawny. Total length 6 inches, culmen O'65, wing 2'85,
tail 2-4, tarsus 1T5.
Adult female.—Similar to the male, but much smaller. Total
length, 4'8 inches; culmen, 0.6; wing, 2.35; tail, 2'0; tarsus, 1'05.
248. CisirrcoLA c h lo r is . Wahlberg’s Fantail Warbler.
This species is unknown to us, and we do not know whether it
should be included in the genus Gisticola or in Dnjnioeca. Professor