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FOR EDVCATION

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LIBRARY

OF

THE AMERICAN MUSEUM

OF

NATURAL HISTORY

bound at
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1917

THE JOURNAL

OF THE

1-

EDITED BY

ALWIN HAAGNER, F.Z.S.

VOLUME XL

PUBLISHED BT
THE UNION IN PRETORIA, TRANSVAAL.

LONDON AGENTS :

WITHEEBY & CO., 326 HIGH HOLBORN, W.C.
1916.

>1-TS 43Q. "^uJ^ %

PREFACE.

aXKo

This will be the last number of the Journal of the
S.A.O.U., and in saying farewell the Editor wishes
to thank those contributors who have made it
possible for him to issue a Journal, even though
it may only have been one or two numbers a year.
In future the ' Journal ' will be incorporated with
that of the S.A. Biological Society, the scope of
which, although much wider, will still embody all
that our Journal has done hitherto. The reasons
for this change are given in the body of this volume.
Naturally I much regret to see the name of the
Society I was mainly instrumental in founding dis-
appear and give place to another, but hope that
the change will be for the better, in so far that it
will be possible in future to publish a regular
Quarterly Journal. I trust the new venture will
receive the whole-hearted support of our old
contributors.

Wishing all our members a prosperous and

happy 1917.

THE EDITOR.

National Zoological Gardens,
Pretoria, September 10th, 1916.

LIST OF PAPEES, &c.,
IN THIS VOLUME.

Vol. XI., No. 1. December 1915.

I. The Birds of Philipstown, Cape Province, with Notes

on their Habits. By H. Leighton Hare 1

XL Ornithological Notes from Natal. By E. C. Chubb,

Curator, Durban Museum 19

III. The Curlew in South Africa. By John Wood 20

IV. Remarks upon some widely distributed Groups of

Birds containing distinctive Family Traits. By
Ambrose A. Lane 25

V. Birds of the Kaffrarian Frontier. By Frank A. O.

Pym, Curator, King Williams Town Museum 29

VI. Birds in Relation to their Prey : Experiments on
Wood-Hoopoes, Small Hornbills, and a Babbler.
By C.F. M.SwYNNERTON,F.L.S.,F.E.S.,C.M.B.O.U. 32

VIL Occasional Notes 108

VIII. Short Notices of Ornithological Publications 112

IX. Proceedings of the Union 114

I

yi LIST OF PAPERS.

Vol. XI., No. 2, December 1916.

X. Observations on the Birds of the District of Humans-
dorp, Cape Province. By B. A. Mastekson 119

XI. The Summer Migration of 1915-16 as observed in
the Eastern Districts of the Cape Province. By
Rev. Robert Godfrey, Somerville, Tsolo 142

XII. Occasional Notes 1^^

XIII. Obituary : Major (Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel)

Boyd Robert HoRSBRUGH, A.S.C 153

XIV. Short Notices of Ornithological Publications 154

XV. An Account of the Movement respecting the Altera-
tion of the Name of the S.A. Ornithologists'
Union 1^^

Name Index

Titlepage, Preface, Contents, etc.

SUBJECT-MATTER INDEX,
INCLUDING NAMES OF CONTRIBUTORS.

Page
Alteration of the Name of the S.A.O.U., An Account of the

Movement 1^^

' Avicultural Magazine,' noticed 114

Birds iu Relation to their Prey : Experiments on Wood-Hoopoes,

Small Hornbills, and a Babbler (C. F. M. Swynnerton) 32

' British Birds,' noticed 1 15, 155

Chubb, E. C. Ornitholog-ical Notes from Natal 19

Cuckoo, The Call-note ol a young Ill

Curlew in South Africa 20

Davies, C. G., Letter from 109

Francolin, Distribution of, in the O.F.S 110

Game Preservation Act. Proclamation by Administrator of the

Province of Transvaal 112, 150

Godfrey, Ifev. Robert. The Summer Migration of 1915-1916 142

Ilaao-ner, A. K. An Account of the Movement respecting the

Alteration of the Name of the S.A.O.U 156

Hare, H. Leighton. Notes on the Birds of Philipstown, Cape

Province 1

Herons' Nests on Euphorbia, in vicinity of Pietersburg. (Plate.) . 110

Horsburgh, B..yd Robert. (Obituary.) 153

Humansdorp. Observations on the Birds of the District of .... 119

' Ibis : Journal of Ornithology,' noticed 113, 154

Johnson, K. Cowper Distribution of the Francolin in the O.F.S. . 110

K affrarian Frontier, Birds of 29

Kuobel, J. C. J. Call-note of a young Cuckoo Ill

>111 SUBJECT-MATTER INDEX.

Page
Lane, Ambrose A. On some widely distributed Birds containing

distinctive Family Traits 25

Masterson, B. A. Observations on the Birds of the Distnct of

riumansdorp jig

Migration, Summer of 1915-1916 142

Moers, F, E. O. Curious Form of Blue-breasted Waxbill 109

Name Index 159-17S

Natal, Ornithological Notes from 19

Obituary. (Boyd Robert Horsburgh.) I53

Occasional Notes ' jQg jjg

Ornithological Notes from Natal ' 19

Philipstown, Caps Province, Notes on the Birds of 1

Proceedings of the Union j^r

Pym, Frank A. 0. Birds of the Kaffrariau Frontier 29

Roberts, Austin. Herons' Nests on Euphorbia in vicinity of

Pietersburg. (Plate.) " jjq

Short Notices of Ornithological Publications 1 ] 3 154

South African Biological and Natural History Society, Forma- '

tion of

158

Stork, Nts!ing of the 24g

Summer Migration of 1915-1916 242

Symons, R. E. Nesting of the Black Stork 148

Waxbill, Curious Form of Blue-breasted IO9

Widely distributed Groups of Birds containing distinctive Family

Traits ' 25

Wood, John. Curlew in South Africa 20

Plate : Curious Site for Heron's Nest.

THE JOURNAL

OF THE

SOOTH AFRICAN ORNITHOLOGISTS' DNION.

Vol. XI. DECEMBER 1915. No. 1.

I- — The Birds of Philipstown, Cape Province, loith Notes
on their Habits. By H. Leighton Hare.

Looking back on a stay of close upon two years at Philips-
town, C.P., I cannot help recalling the, reniai k of a friend
who had travelled through that part of the country, in regard
to the possibilities of the district from an ornithologist's
point of view. His opinion was summed up in the remark,
" Well, it looks as if it might support an odd koester (lark)
or two ! "

That my friend was unduly pessimistic, and that the
district offers quite a fair scope to the collector, I shall
endeavour to show iti the following promiscuous notes on
the birds observed there. In compiling these notes I have
not attempted to follow any fixed order of classification, but
I am hopeful that they will, nevertheless, prove to be of
some small interest.

Commencing with the Eagles — only three species were
identified with certainty, namely, the Martial Hawk-Eagle
{Eutohncetus hellicoms), the Black-breasted Harrier-Eagle
{Circaetus pectoralis), and the Tawny Eagle {Aguila rapax).
The first-named is fairly frequently seen. It is destructive
to young springbucks, but does not despise such small game
as ground-squirrel (" Waaierstert meerkat "). The Tawny
Eagle, I believe, breeds in the district. One of a pair of

1

2 Mr. H. Leigliton Hare on

these birds frequenting a certain locality was shot, and
shortly afterwards I found, in a tree in the neighbourhood,
a large nest under construction, the materials of which were
quite fresh. Although the mate remained in the vicinity for
a week or two longer, nothino- further was added to the
nest. I feel sure that but for the untimely death of the one
bird the pair would have bred there.

The Jackal-Buzzard (Buteo jakxil'), a common bird, is a
permanent resident. Several good specimens were secured
by means of a trap set on the top of a long pole, which was
then erected in a conspicuous place. A clutch of two eggs
was taken from a nest in a large " Karree " tree ; one was
dirty-white in colour, the other covered with dark blotches
on a dirty-white background. The}^ differed so much in
appearance that it was difiicult to believe that they had been
taken from the same nest. The Jackal-Buzzard is quite a
useful bird. It appears to subsist mainly on small birds and
rats, although it doubtless levies toll on game-birds and
hares when opportunity offers. It will occasionally kill
snakes.

The Steppe Buzzard {Buteo desertonim) is a summer
visitant. The stomachs of specimens secured contained rats,
birds, and frogs. One had also swallowed a piece of stick
about the thickness of a lead pencil and two inches in length,
but this was probably accidental.

Black-shouldered Kite [Elanus cceruletis). — T\\\% useful
little Hawk is rare ; it was only recorded once. The Yellow-
billed Kite {Milvus cecfi/plius) is a summer migrant. Parties
of from 10 to 20 are occasionally seen, though usually they
wander about singly or in pairs. Sometimes they are found
feeding on carrion. They are venturesome birds, as I had
opportunities of seeing when on active service in the district
of Gordonia a few months ago. On one occasion we were
much entertained by the efforts of a Kite to pick up a scrap
of meat lying a few paces from the door of one of the tents
in our camp. Time after time he would swoop, but in-
variably his heart failed him just at the critical moment, and
in the end he gave it up. Sometimes when on the march

the Birds of PJdlipstown. 3

three or four of these birds would accompany ns for miles
skimming over the bushes just in front of the leading horse-
men and taking on the wing any locusts that had been
disturbed. At one spot in the district I saw a flock of fully
100 of these birds.

Chanting Goshawk (MeJiera.v canorus). — These handsome
birds are fairly plentiful. Their nests, usually placed in a
tree from 8 to 12 feet from the ground, and scantily lined
with scraps of w'ool or horse-dung, are easily found. The
eggs, two in number, are white. Judging by the litter of
skulls and feet round the nest, they evidently do good
execution amongst the " genus Lepus." But in a district
where hares are regarded as vermin, this, I think, should be
" counted unto them for righteousness/-' When on the winor
this bird sometimes utters a wild weird cry ; generally, how^-
ever, its pleasant trilling whistle is to be heard in the early
morning and towards evening.

Harriers make their appearance in the spring and leave
again towards the end of summer. Montagu's Harrier
(Circus cineraceus) and the Pale Harrier (Circus macrurus)
are fairly numerous. The Black Harrier {Circus niaurus)
was recorded only once.

Of the three Kestrels, the Greater (Tinnunculus rupi-
coZo/</e5), the South African (T. rupicolus), and the Lesser
(T. naumamn) , only the South African variety is, so far as
I am aware, a permanent resident. This bird appears to
have been endowed with an undue allowance of impudence.
It never seems to be happier than when it is annoying some
bird larger than itself, and the appearance of a Jackal-
Buzzard is alwaj's an excuse for the Kestrel to be up and
doing. But it does not confine its unwelcome attention to
birds only; on one occasion I was puzzled by the behaviour
of one of these birds, which swooped repeatedly over a spot
on a hill-side. Investigation disclosed the presence of a fine
lynx whose criminal career was then and there cut short.
A reliable farmer in the district informed me that he had
seen this bird, with the assistance of a dog, w^orry a White-
quilled Knorhaan (Oiis afroides) to death. Each time the

1*

4 Mr. H. Leighton Have on

Knoi'haan sought refuge on the ground the dog would flush
it. The Hawk would then attack it in the air, driving it to
cover again. The performance would be repeated, and so
the game went on until the unfortunate Knorhaan, losing
its l)alance in the air, was dashed to the ground and killed.
I have also known a Kestrel to strike down a w^ounded
Partridge.

The Greater Kestrel is not uncommon in the district.

The lesser variety at times appears in large numbers, their
visits generally coinciding with the presence of swarms of
locusts, on which they feed. The stomach of one specimen
secured contained the mandibles of a number of hunting
spiders (" Jacht spinnikop").

In addition to the Hawks above mentioned, must be re-
corded either the S.A. Peregrine [Falco minor) or the S.A.
Lanner (F. him'micus), or possibly both. In dealing with a
class of birds so wary and so liable to changes of plumage
when passing from the juvenile to the adult stage, it is often
impossible to identify them with certainty unless one has
the specimen in one^s hands, and I cannot help feeling that
several migratory species must have escaped notice.

The only Owls observed were the Spotted Eagle-Owl
{Bubo maculosus) and the Barn-Owl {Strix flammea). The
former were very plentilul near the village during the early
part of the year 1912. Why they should have become
scarcer since that time I cannot say, unless the senseless
persecution to which these unfortunate birds are invariably
subjected at the hands of ignorant and superstitious country-
folk can account for it. There is no bird in the country
more deserving of protection and, in my opinion, no oppor-
tunity of impressing the fact upon farmers should be lost.
The Eagle-Owl may sometimes be seen catching field-mice
during the late afternoon. It was somewhat of a surprise to
me to learn that this bird will feed on carrion. I saw a pair
which had died through feeding on a spring-hare which
had been poisoned and dropped in the " veld " as bait for
jackals.

The Barn-Owl is more often heard than seen. Several

tlie Birds of PliiUpstoion. 5

used to inhabit some holes iu the side o£ a well on the out-
skirts oi: the village and raised breeds there.

The Secretarj-Bird (^Serpentarius secretarius) is not iin-
connnon. A pair will generally be found to keep more or
less to the same locality. It" one is shot the survivor wi'l
soon pick up another mate, and if both are destroyed it will
not be long before another pair has taken their place. I saw
this happen at a certain farm in the district where a pair of
Secretarj'-Birds, after having lived in peace and security for
several years, came to an untimel\»end through feeding on
the carcases of lambs which had been poisoned and laid on
the " veld " for jackals. Ojiinions seem to be very much
divided as to whether the Secretary-Bird should be protected
or not, the views of both sides generally running to extremes.
The question is a difficult one to decide. In spite of all that
may be said in its favour as an exterminator of snakes, the
fact remains that it is very partial to leverets and young-
partridges. But in so far as the Philipstown district is
concerned, I think it may be given the benefit of the doubt,
for partridges are practically non-existent on the flats, and
hares are regarded as vermin. In country where game is
plentiful and snakes scarce, I certainly think there are some
grounds for the views held by those who maintain that the
Secretary-Bird does more harm than good^ but I hope that
many years will elapse before its quaint figure ceases to
ornament the dry stretches of the Karoo. This bird breeds
in the district. It does not seem to be fond of taking lono-
flights^ but it can undoubtedly soar well if so minded. I
recall once, on a bright clear day, seeing one mount in spirals
until com})letely lost to sight.

The Order Anseres, as nuiy be expected, is not too well
represented. The Egyptian Goose (Alopocheti cegyptiacus),
South African Shelduck [Casarca cana), and Black Buck
(A7ias sparsa) are all permanent residents. All three species
are usually found in pairs ; this, however, is not always the
case. Occasionally flights of Siielduck numbering 12 or 14
individuals may be seen. These probal)ly comprise the
parent birds and a brood of young which have had the good

6 Mr. H. Leighton Hare on

fortune to reach the flying stage, in spite of the many dangers
to which they, as ducklings, must have been exposed on some
open sheet of water. At long intervals, too, the rare sight
(for this district^ at any rate) may be witnessed of flocks of
100 or more of these birds on a large " pan/' which is filled
after abnormally heavy rains. This event, however, only
takes place about once in ten years. When this " pan "
does contain water, it is surprising to see what numbers of
water-fowl will assemble in a few days' time. Large flights
of Egyptian Geese, Rgi-billed Duck {^Pceeilonetta erythro-
rhjncha), and Red-knobbed Coot (Fulica cristata) congregate
rapidly. The favourite nesting-site of the Egyptian Goose
appears to be the disused nest of some Hammerkop (^Scopus
umbretta) perched on an overhanging ledge of rock. The
bird sits very close, and no amount of moving about on the
roof of the nest will induce it to stir off the eggs. Only
when the nest has been broken open from above will it take
to flight. I have not had an opportunity of seeing how the
young, after they are hatched, are removed, but I believe
they are carried one by one by the neck in the parent bird's
bill. The young will often be reared on a comparatively
small pond, and when danger threatens the old birds fly o£f
while the young scuttle ashore and hide. Given a little
cover, they contrive to conceal themselves in a truly mar-
vellous manner, and unless the spot be carefully marked
search will, nine times out of ten, be fruitless. When the
banks afford next to no shelter, the sight of these helpless
little creatures on the bare ground, trying to pass themselves
off as stones or what-not, is really pathetic. They are
evidently trained by their parents how to behave in such
emergencies, and the primary rule, I imagine, must be " once
hidden, do not stir until you hear the signal that danger is
past." A friend and I once spent a long time searching for
a half -grown gosling, which we knew must be hidden very
close by. The ground was only sparsely covered with small
bushes, but the search was in vain, although, as subsequently
transpired, we must have almost trodden on the bird several
times. Tiring of the game at last we gave it up, but re-

the Birds of Phillpsfown. 7

mained in the vicinity for about half an hour longer, when
1 announced my intention of having "just one more look."
Almost immediately! imagined I caught sight of the gosling
Iving in a I'agged bush right at my feet, stooped down and
examined it casually, and then called to my friend to come
and see " how wonderfully like a gosling this sto)ie looked."
As he came up I bent down more closely still to examine the
sup[i03ed stone, and then to my blank amazement discovered
that it was the ji'oslino- after all. The vermiculated colouring
of its back harmouisod, quite accidentally I suppose, with
stones which were lying about the place. I need hardly
say that after it had been examined it was returned to the
water. Though I have not found the Biack Duck {A. sparsa)
breeding in the district, I have taken the eggs on the Vaal
River at Barkly West. The nest consisted of a layer of
rushes, while the eggs, nine in number and of a light brown
shade, were surrounded and partly covered in a most skilful
manner by a ring of down evidently .plucked from the parent
bird's breast. The Coot [F. cristata) was found breeding at
Pbilipstown in the middle of winter (July).

The Cape Dabchick (Podicipes capensis) was recorded
only once, though doubtless it would be found on the Orange
River, which forms the north-eastern boundary of the dis-
trict. If this one had found its way from the river, it must
have crossed longer stretches of country than one would
suppose a bird of such seemingly feeble flight capable of.

The Grey Heron {Ardea cinerea) is common everywhere.
A number breed each year on a farm not many miles from
the village. The nests are built in a couple of large willow-
trees, but are inaccessible to anyone but an expert climber.
These birds may often be seen during the day standing about
on the "veld" miles away from water, or stalking along
through lucerne-fields. A change of diet from frogs, &c.,
to beetles, caterpillars, and possibly field-mice, evidently
does not come amiss.

It is hardly necessary to mention that the Hammerkop
(^Scopus umhretta) is also found here — where, indeed, in South
Africa is it not to be seen ? I had several good opportunities

8 Mr. H. Leighton Hare on

o£ watching a quaint performance, in which a pair of these
birds will sometimes take part. The two face each other,
bow gravely several times, and then one leaps liglitly on to
the other's shoulders and remains there, standing erect and
flapping its wings for a space of half a minute or so, both
meanwhile keeping up a loud cheerful piping. Then the
" rider " jumps down, the other promptly mounts, and the
same } erformance is gone through. Tljis is repeated, turn
and turn about^ perhaps half a dozen times.

Curlew [Numenius arquatus) were observed only once
during my stay at Philipstown. They were at the "pan''
already mentioned.

The Avocet (^Recurv'irostra avocettay was occasional!}^ seen
in small parties, but more commonly in pairs. A small boy
attending the public school once brought his teacher the
head of an Avocet. He explained that, according to his
father, it was a most destructive bird, as it flew over the
corn-fields slicing off the ears of corn with its curved bill.
In future let it not be said that our country-folk do not take
an intelligent interest in the fauna of the country.

The Grreenshank {Totanus glottis), Marsh-Sandpiper
(^Totanus stagnatilis), Wood-Sandpiper (^Tetanus ylareola),
and Little Stint (^Tringa minuta) make their appearance in
spring. The two last-mentioned species are particularly
plentiful.

Two species of Stork are irregular visitors to the district,
namely, the White Stork {Ciconia alba) and the Black Stork
(C. nigra). The latter are generally seen singly or in pairs
during the winter months — they are by no means common.

Blue Crane ( Tetraptery.r, lyaradisea) . — This bird is a familiar
sight on the " veld."*' At times huge flocks assemble, and
although they are inclined to be troublesome in grain-lands
they unquestionably do much towards keeping down insect-
pests. No one who has seen a flock at work over an area
where locusts have deposited their eggs will doubt this. The
Blue Crane lays its eggs on the bare ground, a few pebbles
being scraped together to form an apology for a nest. I
ascertained once that a pair were breeding on a farm close

tlte Birch of Pldllpstown. 9

to the viIIao;e. The spot selected was a gentle rise in the
middle oi" a big flat. This gave the birds a clear view in all
directions, and enabled them to slip away from the nest as
soon as anyone hove in sight. Several unsuccessful attempts
were made to locate the nest ; each time the bird would be
seen sneaking off, but it was impossible to say exactly where
it had risen from the ground. There were several good-
sized open gravelly spaces in the neighbourhood, on any one
of which the eggs might be lying- Recourse was eventually
had to strategy. Accompanied by a friend armed with a
pair of field-glasses a careful stalk was made to the nearest
point where cover could be found, a distance of 700 or 800
yards from the ridge. The friend then focussed the glasses
on the ridge while I advanced into the open, making no
attempt to conceal myself, and almost immediately he shouted
that he had seen the bird rise from the middle of one of the
bare patches. The rest was easy. Looking at the two eggs
lying on the bare ground^ it seemed ridiculous that there
should have been any difficulty in finding them_, and yet had
one not been specially searching one might have passed
within a foot or two without noticing them. The clutch
consists of two eggs. The young may often be seen following
their parents about the " veld." They are unable to fly
until almost full grown. If chased on horseback the parents
will endeavour, in every possible way, to draw^ the pursuer
away from the young, resorting to the time-worn dodges of
throwing themselves down on the ground, shamming lame, &c.
When finally overtaken, the young birds show plenty of
fight. These birds generally repair to some dam during the
evening and pass the night standing in the water, probably
as a safeguard against surprise attacks by wild cats or other
carnivora. This habit is carried to ridiculous lengths in the
case of the young. Some friends of mine who had a pair
informed me that one used invariably to sleep at night
standing in a small dish which contained tlieir supply of
drinking-water. If caught young the Blue Crane is easily
tamed and makes an interesting pet.

" Paauw " are very numerous during the summer months,

10 Mr. H. Leiffhton Hare

on

parties of 10 or 12 being seen too-ether. They breed in the
district^ and may sometimes be heard making a drumming
noise, which carries a long distance. Only the Veld Paauw
(^Otis cafra) was identified with certainty.

Three species of Knorhaan, namely, the Blue {Otis cceru-
lescens), the Vaal (0. vi</orsi), and the White-quilled (0.
afroides), are found in the district. I should like to see all
of them placed under absolute protection, on the sauje
footing with the large and small locust-birds. They feed
largely on locusts in the " voetganger '^ stage, and also on a
certain caterpillar which has increased so rapidly during
the last few years as to constitute a serious pest. Not many
of the Blue variety are left in the district. The Vaal
Knorhaan is fairly evenly distributed throughout, generally
being seen in twos or threes. The White-quilled Knorhaan
is scarce in some parts and plentiful in others. Their
numbers fluctuate, however, and although plentiful in a
locality one year there may be very few the following year,
even though there has been no shooting This, I think,
must be due to disease — certainly many are troubled with
worms in the intestines.

I cannot pass these birds by without quoting a couple of
instances to show how soon one whose mate has been killed
will find another. T had been asked specially to obtain a
few specimens of Knorhaan for the South African Museum,
and got permission from a farmer to shoot three on his farm.
ThesCj he informed me, were the only ones on his place. I
arrived there in the afternoon. The farmer was away from
horaOj but a native who knew where the birds were to be
found was placed at my disposal. On the way I enquired
whether there were any other Knorhaan on the farm. "No,''
he was quite emphatic, there were only three and they were
always to be found in a small patch of lucerne not far from
the homestead. In due course we ran across the birds, two
of which Mere bagged. The third became very wary, and
after a lot of manoeuvring I abandoned the chase late in the
afternoon. Next morning at breakfast time I was astonished
to see the old bird back in the lucerne-patch with a new

tTie Birds of PhiUpstown. 11

mate. It may, o£ conrsej be suggested that the evidence is
not conclusive and that this was an entirely new pair, but I
hardly think this likely and, in my own mind, I am con-
vinced that such was not the case. Here is another instance.
There were a few pairs of Vaal Knorhaan on another farm.
One pair could always be found in the neighbourhood of a
low stony ridge. I shot one of this pair — the other escaped
— and a few days later heard from the farmer that the
survivor had picked up another mate. I subsequently shot
both these, male and female, and within a fortnight another
pair had taken their place. I am glad to say that, having
secured all the specimens that were required, these were left
in peace.

Dikkop (^CEd'icnemvs capensis). — This is a common bird
and can alwavs be heard calling on bright moonlioht nights.
During the day they lie hidden amongst bushes, and some-
times as many as 20 can be flushed from one spot.

The Crowned Lapwing (^Steplianil>y.x coronatus) is fairly
common^ while BurchelFs Courser (^Cursorh/s riifus) and the
Two-bauded Courser (Rhinoptilus africanus) are plentiful.

The Caspian Plover [ui^gialitis asiaticus) was recorded
and Kittlitz's Sand-Plover (A. pecuarid) several times. The
Three-banded Plover (A. tricollaris) is, of course, a per-
manent resident. Its nest, consisting of a few pebbles
scraped together, is generally situated on more or less bare
ground not far from water. It is easily found.

Crowned Guinea-fowl (^Numida coronata) exist in fair
numbers in the neighbourhood of the Orange River.

Small coveys of Greywing Partridge {Francolinus afri-
canus) are evenly distributed and Red\Ying [F. levaillanli)
sparingly. The former are generally to be found on rocky
ground, while the latter, which are scarcer, keep to the flats.
The stomach of a Greywing was found to contain^ besides
insects of several kinds and vegetable matter, 30 young
toads.

Quail {Coturnix africana) are occasionally put up either
singly or in pairs. I do not think they ever appear in
anything like large numbers.

12 Mr. H. Leighton Hare on

Naraaqua Sand-Grouse (Pteroclurus namag^ta) are very
plentiful at certain times of the year, though from all accounts
they are never seen in such large numbers as in former
years. They breed in the district, and their eggs were
frequently taken. The clutch consists of three eggs.

The Speckled Pigeon (Cohimba plueonota). Cape Turtle-
Dove (^Turtur capicola), Laughing Dove {T. senegalensis),
and Namaqua Dove (CEna capensis) are all very common.

The Bacbakiri Shrike (Laniarius (fuituralis), Fisca\ Sin'ike
[Lanius collaris), and Coronetted ShiiUe [Laniun suhcoroiiatus)
are all resident species. The Red-backed Shrike [Lanius
collurio) is a rather rare summer visitor. I once saw the nest of
a Bacbakiri constructed entirely (with the exception, perhaps,
of the inner lining) of green twigs plucked from a thyme-
bush. It certainly was a sweet-smelling abode ; incideutaJly
the thyme-bush was just about ruined when the birds had
finished with it. I fancy they must have found the scent to
their liking, because there was no lack of other good nesting-
material in the neighbourhood. It is sometimes rather
difficult to draw the line between the Fiscal and the C'oro-
netted Shrike. Where the wliite band across the forehead
and the white eyebrows are plainly in evidence, there is, of
course, no question about the identity, but some birds are
found with just the very faintest trace of a white eyebrow.
The breast of the Fiscal of these parts is pure white, and
shows no traces of the smoky colour to be seen in specimens
from the neighbourhood of the Cape. This bird destroys
many insects, and is a good friend to the farmer. Apart
from his cruel habit of impaling living locusts, beetles, &c.,
on thorns or barbed wire, for which I suppose he cannot be
held to blame, the only bad trait in his character is his
fondness for pulling off the head of a caged canary whenever
he gets the opportunity to do so. He is a pugnacious bird.
Quite recently I came upon two indulging in a regular
" rouoh and tumble " on the ground. They rolled over and
over in the dust using beak and claws vigorously, surrounded
by a circle of Chats, Sparrows, Seedeaters, and Buntings,
who appeared to be enjoying the fun immensely. I do not

the Birds of PhUipstown. 13

know how long tlie fight had been going on before I arrived,
but I watched for fully five minutes before one of the com-
batants " threw up the sponge," and in a very ruffled state
made off, hotly pursued by the victor. These birds are
tohtrably good mimics and are particularly fond of imitating
the call of the Greywing Partritlge.

The only Thrusii found in these parts is Cabanis' Thrush
{Turdus cahaniai) — it is not uncommon.

The Black-fronted Bulbul (JPycnonoius iii<jrieans) is a very
common bird.

The Ground-Woodpecker (^Geocolapfes ol'ivaceus) is seen
now and then. It is not ver}' plentiful.

Pied Barbet (Trichola;ma leucome.las). — These birds are
very plentiful everywhere, and are rather troublesome in
orchards. Shelley's Barbet (7". a^'n/s) (see Stark and Sclater,
vol. iii. p. 162) is merely the young of the Pied Barbet.
The absence of the tooth to the upper mandible does not
signify, as the young of the Black-collared Harbet {Lyhius
torquatus) will also be found to be lacking in this respect.
Apparently the patch of red on the forehead only appears
when the bird reaches the adult stage.

Two species of Mouse-bird, the White-backed (Coll us
capensis) and the Red-faced (C erythi'omeloii), are very
common. I have sought in vain for a redeeming feature
in their characters. They are unmitigated rascals, and easily
take firsi place in the ranks of the orchard-plunderers.

The White-necked Raven (^Coriidtur alhieollis), Black
Crow (^Corvus capensis), and Pied Crow (C. scapidatus) are
all residents, but are not often seen. Flocks of the last-
named were causing the postal authorities at De Aar and
Britstown much annoyance recently. They used to roost on
the telegraph-wires in such numbers as to interfere with the
current. The trouble was caused by the upj)er wires sagging
under the weight of the birds until brought into contact
with the lower wires. I have heard of the same trouble
being experienced in the district of Glen Grey, but in this
case Black Crows were the offenders.

Of the three species of Starling, namely, the Pale-winged

14 Mr. H. Leighton Hare on

{Amydrus caffer), the Wattled (Dilophus caruncidatus)^ and
the Pied or Common Spreeuw [Spreo hicolor), only the last-
mentioned is really common. The Pale-winged Starlings
generally go in pairs. Wattled Starlings are seldom seen
by themselves, being generally in the company o£ Pied
Starlings. The Common Spreeuw, if one can overlook his
depredations in the orchard, is essentially a useful bird.
They do much towards keeping down caterpillars and grubs
in lucerne-fields. During severe droughts, when food had
become scarce, I have seen them wading about in shallow
pools feeding on tadpoles, on which they seemed to thrive.

The Chat family is fairly w^ell represented. The Capped
Wheatear [Saxicola pileata), Mountain-Chat [S. monticola),
Familiar Chat (S. familiaris), Layard's (/hat {S. lai/ardi).
Sickle-winged Chat [Emarginata siniiata), and Ant-eating
Chat (^Myrmecocichla form'icivora) are all common. The S.A.
Stone-Chat {Pratincola torquatci) is somewhat rare. The
different phases of plumage adopted by the Mountain-Chat
are very striking. Although it is genei'ally thought that
the plumage of the female — brownish black with white on
the rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail (see Stark and Sclater,
vol. ii. p. 1^^4:), remains constant throughout life, this is not
an invariable rule. Specimens of the female in grey plumage
were collected and submitted to the S.A. Museum, and the
fact verified. In these cases, to remove all doubt, the bodies
preserved in spirits were also sent for examination.

The Larks to be found here are the Thick-billed {Calendula
crassirostris) , the Grey-collared (^Alwmon semitorgnata), the
Red-capped {I'ephrocorys cinerea) , Rufous Long-billed {Cer-
thilauda rafida), the Grey-backed [Pyrrludauda verticalis),
and the Dark-naped {P. aiistralis). The Thick-billed and
Grey-collared varieties are somewhat troublesome in grain-
lands, as they are given to scratching up the germinating
seeds. Grey-backed Larks may ofcen be seen feeding in
the streets along with the Red-capped. Enormous flocks
of Dark-naped Larks congregate together, but they keep
rather further afield. A new subspecies of Lark was col-
lected by me in this district and given the name of Calan-

the Birds of Plnlipstoii-n. 15

drella sclateri capensis by Ogilvie-Grrant, The original series
was sent to the S. African Museum, Cape Town, and four
more specimens, collected more recently, have been acquired
by the Transvaal Museum. Two or three other species of
Lark were seen, but not identified.

Three species of Pipit were recorded, namely, Tawny
Pipit {Anthus rxifulus raalteni), Davies' Pipit {A. daciesi)
and Large Yellow- tufted Pipit (A. crenatus). The first is
common, the second rare, and the third is not uncommon on
the hills.

Wagtails. — The Pied Wagtail {MotacUIa vidua) is found
along the Orange River, and the Common Wagtail (J/, ca-
pensis) is abundant everywhere.

The Giant Kingfisher (Cf^-^^/^ maxima) was seen only once,
though doubtless this biid, as well as the Pied (C. rudis) and
the Malachite Kingfishers {Cori/thornis cijanostigma)^ would
be found alontj the river. The Giant Kinofisher can swallow
fish of an astonishing size. At Barkly West I saw a yellow
fish, 7 inches in length, taken from the stomach of one of
these birds. The head of the fish had been battered to
pieces, but the body was intact.

The Swallow-tailed Bee-eater {Dicrocercus Idnindineiis) is
a very rare bird in these parts. It was recorded only once
from a farm on the boundary between Philipstown and
Hanover districts. The European Bee-eater [Merops a])iaster)
is very abundant all through the summer months. It breeds
in the district, and is an unwelcome visitor to farmers who
keep bees. Specimens collected at Barkly West were found
to have fed exclusively on dragon-fiies.

Rufous-cheeked Nightjar (^CaprimuJgus rvfigend). — This
bird is a summer visitor and is fairly common. I believe it
driniis while on the wing — at any rate, I have occasionally
seen one, while skimming over a sheet of water in the evening,
drop down for an instant on to the surface.

The S.A. Hoopoe (Upupa africana) is rather a rare bird
in these parts.

The Didric Cuckoo {Chrysococcyx cupreus) is a migratory
species, arriving generally in October and leaving again

16 Mr. H. Leigliton Hare on

towards the end of summer. I believe it is the general
opinion that this bird, after depositing its egg in some other
bird's nest, takes no farther interest in its offspring. This
is not always the case. I have it from a very reliable
gentleman in Barkly West that a young Didric was once
hatched in a Sparrow's nest under his verandah, and that
after leaving the nest it remained in the vicinity and was
fed daily for a week or more by a pair of adult Cuckoos as
well as by its foster-parents.

It is perhaps hardly necessary to mention that the Cape
Sparrow {Passer arcuatus) is a perniiinent resident here and
is plentiful. The Grrey-headed Sparrow (P. diffusus) is
found in the neighbourhood of the Orange River, where it
forms a ))Oundary of the district. Recently, in Gordonia
district, I frequently saw these two species mixing together
freely. When feeding on the ground one peculiarity^ was
very noticeable, namely, that, while the Cape Sparrow in-
variably hopped, the Grey-headed Sparrow almost alwa^'S
ran, after the manner of a Lark. I found this bird breeding
at Kakamas during December of last year. The nest was
situated in a hole in the trunk of a tree about 8 feet from
the ground, but I was unable to examine it closely as there
were several large wasp-nests near the entrance.

The S.A. White-bellied Swift {Ci/pselus africamis) and
the Black Swift (C barbatus) are only seen occasionally.
I once shot one of the latter on the slopes of Table Mountain,
Cape Town, and found in its throat a ball, about the size of
an ordinai-y marble, of small spiders and flying beetles, many
of which were still alive. The spiders had doubtless been
t-aken from their webs slung between bushes and trees on
the hill-side. The Indian Swift (C. a^nis) and the African
White-rumped Swift (C. ca/fei') are both very common, and
breed in the district. Some nests of the former, easily dis-
tinguishable by the external covering of feathers, may be
seen sandwiched in between a number of those of the S.A.
Cliff-Swallow [P etrochelidon spilodera) under the eaves of
the Reformed Church at Philipstown. The White-rumped
species is found breeding in old Swallow-nests or deserted

the Birds of rjiilijistoirn. 17

Sparrow-nests in holes in walls. Neither of these Swifts
remains at Philipstown durino- the whole of the winter. The
White-rinnped species disap[)ears altogether at the first
approach of cold weather; the other remains somewhat
longer, hut eventually disappears too. It is, however, only
a partial migrant, as I have known it to stay all through
the winter at Barkly West, and I also came across this bird
at Britstown, C.P., in the middle of winter (July).

The Larger Stripe-breasted Swallow (Hirundo cucullata)^
White-throated Swallow {H. albigularis), European Swallow
(i/. rustica), and S.A. Cliff-Swallow {Petrochelidon spilodera)
are all migratory species and very common during the summer
months. As mentioned above, a colony of the last-named
has established itself at the Reformed Church, where some
hundreds of nests, clustered together in places four and five
deep, may be seen. The nests have been constructed on two
sides of the building only, the sides not used being those
facing the quarters from which heavy rains always come.
I believe each pair of birds raises at least two broods during
their stay here. The colony presents a scene of feverish
activity when breeding is in full swing. They do not
migrate all together, but early in April begin drifting away
in small parties as soon as the broods of young are able to
fly. By the end of April all have disappeared. The entrance
to the nest of the Cliff-Swallow is very narrow — in fact, the
bird has often to regularly force its way into and out of the
nest. I once saw the dead bodies of two Swallows hanging
from a nest; they had obviously attempted to enter the same
nest at one and the same time, with the result that both their
heads had been firmly caught in the narrow opening.

Two species of Martin are permanent residents, namely,
the S.A. Rock-Martin {Ptyonoprogne fnJig ala) and the S. A.
Sand-Martin ( Cotile paludicola) .

Fly-catchers. — The Brown Fly-catcher {Bradi/ornis in-
fuscatus) is very beautiful. A clutch of eggs, four in number,
was taken from a nest placed in a bush about three feet
from the ground in October. I also found the nest with
eggs in Gordonia District during December of last year.

18 On tie Birds of PhiVqjdoicn.

The Spotted Flycatcher {Musicapa grisola) was recorded
only once, and the Pririt Flycatcher {Pachyprora pririt)
twice or three times.

The following list completes the record of birds seen in
the District. There is nothing of particular interest to add
concerning them : —

Masked Weaver {Hyphantornis velatus), Red Bishop-bird
{Pyromelana oryx\ Red-headed Weaver-Finch (A)nadina
erythrocephala), Pin-tailed Widow-bird ( Vidua principalis),
all common ; Scaly-feathered Weaver-bird (Sporopipes squa-
mifrons) , rather rare ; Common Bunting (^Fr'ingillaria capensis)
and Lark-Bunting {F. impetiiani), common; White-throated
Seed-eater [Serimis alhignlaris), Lesser Seed-eater [S. mar-
sJialli), and Mountain Canary (Alario alario), common.
(Li regard to the last-named bird I notice that the latest
check-list issued by the South African Museum contains a
new subspecies of Mountain Canary called Alario alario
leucokema. This is evidently an error. The male Mountain
Canary, when it becomes old, assumes white eyebrows and
patches of white on the cheeks and throat, and an aged bird
has doubtless incorrectly been assumed to belong to a dis-
tinct subspecies.) Common Waxbill {Estrilda astrild),
rather rare ; Malachite Sun-bird (Nectarinia famosa), rare;
Wliite-vented Sun-bird (Cinnyris fuscus), common; Cape
Robin [Cossyplia cafixi) and Cape Griound-Robin {Erythro-
pygia coryphceus) , common. (The latter is a watchful in-
quisitive bird, and is generally the first to detect the presence
of a bnake, a polecat, or other vermin.) Black-breasted Tit
(Parus afer), C/ape Penduline Tit {JEgitlialus capensis), Red-
vented Tit- Babbler [Parisoma suhc(jeruleum), Layard's Tit-
Babbler (P. layardi), Pale White-eye {Zosterops pallida),
Crombec {Syloiella rufescens), Rufous -eared Wren- Warbler
{S/jiloptilaocularia), Cape Wren- Warbler {Prinia maculosa),
Yellow-bellied Bush-Warbler {Eremomela flaviventris) , and
Fairy Warbler {Apalis scita), all common. The Green-
backed Bush- Warbler (C/i/o/"0(/yto icteropygicdis) is somewhat
rare ; it is generally seen in small parties. Its call, to my
mind, closely resembles that of the Cardinal Woodpecker
[Dendropicus cavdinaJis) .

OrnitJioLx/ical ^^ofes from NataJ. 19

II. — Ornithological Notes from Natal.
By E. C. Chubb, Curator, Durban Museum.

Ringed Bird found at Port Shepstone.

The Durban Museum recently received from the Magistrate
at Port Shepstone a Tern, which was found dead on the
beach there on the 8th July last, bearing a ring of the Bird
Protection Station at Rositten in German}-, inscribed as
follows :— " Vogelwarte Rossitten, F 22020."

It appears to be an immature example of the Common
Tern [Sterna fJnr'iatilis, Naum.), in winter plumage,

Bar-Tailed Godwit (Llmosa lapponica, Linn.) in Natal.

In a previous number of the 'Journal' (vol. vii. p. 80) I
recorded the occurrence of the Black-tailed Godwit [Limosa
limosa, Linn.) for the first time in South Africa, an example
having been obtained at Durban by Mr. H. M. Millar in
February 1911.

I now take the opportunity of recording a visit to South
Africa on the part of the Bar-tailed Godwit {Limosa laj^-
ponica, Linn.), a specimen of which was shot for the Durban
Museum by Mr. H. M. Millar at the head of Durban Bay
in March 1012. It seems to be an adult l)ird in winter
plumage.

Black-Tailed Tropic-Bird (Phaeton leptnrus, Daud.)
in Natal.

The Durban Museum possesses an example of the Black-
tailed Tropic-Bird (Phaeton lepturiis, Da-ud.), Avhicli was shot
by the donor, Mr. J. Alder, at the Umgeni River bridge,
4 miles N.E. of Durban, on 5th February, 1912.

As far as I am aware, this bird has not been hitherto
recorded on the mainland of Africa, and the only species up
to the present included in the South African list is the Red-
tailed Tropic-Bird (Phaeton ruhricanda, Bodd.) on the
evidence of a tail-feather picked up on the beach at Port
Elizabeth some years ago.

20 Mr. John AVood on the

Variation of the Black Sun-bird {Cinni/ris amethystina,
Shaw).

In the ' Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club,'
(vol. xxix. p. 65, 1912), Mr. W. L. Sclater directs attention
to a " variation " or " mutation " of the Black Sunbird
{Cinnyris amethystina, Shaw), in which yellow pectoral tufts,
normally absent in this species, are present.

It may be of interest to mention that the Durban Museum
hns since received a second example, which agrees in every
respect with the first. It was shot by Mr. George Bailey
at Avoca in 1913.

111.— The Curleio in South Africa. By John Wood.

This is a shifty bird — we mean shifty in the sense that in
wariness and in readiness for instant flight, the Curlew
{Numenius arquatus) is usually a match for the expert stalker,
whether he be after taking its life or its photograph ; and
here we might remai'k that anyone who has read bird-
books of recent years knows sport with the camera brings
problems in tactics and technique and knowledge of habits
demanding higher qualifications than necessarily go with the
" murder-aiming eye." These birds can only be approached
by strategem, or circumvented by imitation of their whistle,
as a few of the old poachers could do ; and we are inclined
to the opinion that they post sentries that rise first and give
their crv, "^pipe all hands aloft."

The Curlew is with us in numei'ous small flocks between
October and February, as a migrant from Europe. Ten is
perhaps an average number, and every person who has gone
fishing upon the estuarine rivers of our south-east coast —
but one sector of their distribution — knows the bird ; its call
has a haunting flavour, and he does not forget that it w'as an
incident of the day. The muddy margins of those rivers are
favourite feeding-grounds, and there it may be seen most
days in summer walking or running about — at a safe distance.

Curlew in South Africa. 21

as a rule, — or wading, and even swimming, amongst the sea-
grass [Zostera) which in smoothly combed out tresses often
fringes the water's edge ; or it may also be observed doing
a little vol-planing preparatory to settling upon some part of
the beach, where they live as tide-waiters. Indeed, whilst in
South Africa, their meal-hours are a sort of "moving-feast,"
and with the accuracy of an almanack return is timed to the
ebbing surf from excursions up the rivers or out upon the
veld, where flies and other insects, not savouring of salt, are
snapped up for a change.

We have seen them in flocks, a mile or more away from
the shore, at spots where the soil is loose, and worm-casts
just after rain are as crowded as scale-insects sometimes are
on an orange ; but the marine Crustacea, worms, and jetsam
of the waves were their principal food whilst here, and impart
that fishy flavour which may account for the repugnance to
its table-qualities many persons brought up in this Colony
are supposed to entertain. We daresay there is, too, in this
the germ of a rooted superstition, as the bird is now and then
alluded to amongst the coastal population as one of the
uncanny kinds, darkly capable of spell-casting " Umtagati."
It is a fact that in the West of Scotland the Curlew used to
be forbidden meat, the breaker of this convention being
uneasily regarded in his district as " the man who ate the
Curlew " ; and its Scotch name of " Whaup " seems derived
from a vulture-beaked goblin that dragged its victims through
the eaves of their houses. Significant, too, was the prayer
of some generations ago to be " delivered from ghaists and
lang-nebbit things" — that is, from creatures with long
noses capable of poking deeply in o'ther people's affairs.
But the man who eats Curlew in Europe tastes something
worth risking a little for, because that bird in the north,
being chiefly a vegetarian and fresh-water feeder, can be
relished as much as any fat Woodcock. Sportsmen are well
pleased to have a few included in their bag, and the only
disappointment is upon finding the Curlew's bulk is not so
much as might be expected.

It is a drab-coloured bird with dark brown streaks on

22 Mr. John Wood on the

most of its feathers, and with black and white marking?,
the tout ensemhle of which one always admires when a
specimen is in hand. As a member of the family of waders
that specialise in bills and legs, — the Avocet, for instance, in
the former and the Stilt in the other, — the Curlew for more
than half the year hardly knows what it is to go dry-shod.
Of its length of about 2 j feet, six to seven inches are required
for that down-curved crescent-shaped bill commemorated in
the generic name of Nuinenius, meaning new moon. That
organ is, indeed, a conspicuous feature, stamping the bird
with a likeness in outline to the migrant Sacred Ibis,
so much figured in ancient Egyptian art as the venerated
harbinger of Spring and the precursor of tlie Nile^s beneficent
floods. The Ornithologist, however, claims to have an
intelligent appreciation of the bill as a kindly device by
Mother Nature, bringing its owner within reach of the very
retiring small fry that might otherwise escape contributing
towards the bill-of-fare. Those are typified by the mud-prawn
and razor-bait eager anglers laboriously dig out of the
slobbering silt by the river-side, but which the Curlew's bill
expertly feels its way to. Not only is that of the right length,
but at the tip sensitive nerves converge to guide the bird, in its
probing for food, to seize what it cannot see. It thus can
track a tiny crab in the ooze and overcome more complicated
conditions than those met in the deep thrust of a suu-bird, or
sphinx-moth, towards the unchanging position of the nectar
in some tubular flower.

Etymologists differ as to the derivation of the name, but,
since there is in the French form of '^ Courlieu'" and the old
English one of " Corylewe " quite a good echo of the bird's
callj we may assume imitation was the origin. There does
not seem to be an Afrikander name, and doubtless this is due
to the Ckirlew being seldom seen up country. Our Ornitho-
logists, however, report its having looked in, in passing, at
Potchefstrom, Newcastle, Aliwal North, near Johannesburg,
and a few other places well inland ; and Sir Robert Maxwell
mentions in his delightful '' Memories of the Months " having
startled a '^ Whaup '■" (its Scotch name) from some rietpan

Curlew in South Aj'rica. 23

near Kiuiberley, and was touched on the tender chords of
sentiment to hear its'note so distant from the accustomed
moors in the neighbourhood o£ the Solway. He might have
met some of his countrymen at I'Cimberley who would confess
a preference any day for " the wheeple of a Wliaup to the
giggle of a Nightingale ^' ; though certainly at that stage of its
wanderings the Curlew could only give a feeble wintry reduc-
tion of that full, eerie, whinnying performance so effectively
imitated by Silver Sand, the Gipsy, in Crockett^s stirring
novel ' The Raiders/

AVe wonder if our poets have not been consciously playing
full-dress to the gallery in showing themselves so impression-
able towards the "unpremeditated lays ^' of the Nightingale,
Lark, and Thrush, that more or less make music their trade, and
wdiether their responses are not really in need of quickening
for that "Call of the Wild '^ there come from the forlorn
Curlew, or from a pair of Sea-Eagles screeching loudly
as they waltz in a moderate breeze high above our shore
headlands. These sounds in Nature seem to embody the
very spirit of the out-of-the-way scenes in which they are
beard.

The C/urlew is a great traveller — cosmopolitan, indeed, as
regards the Old World. It nests upon the heaths and moors
of North-western Europe, including Britain, and also far
away in that unfamiliar part of the world called the Tundra
marshes of Siberia, amid dreary wastes of moss and lichen,
a million square miles of moss-hags frozen hard two-thirds
of the year, where the map shows here and there a hair, like
a streak of a river, drawn across regions of emptiness. The
rest of its life is passed south of the Line down to the Cape
here, on the one side, and via India right to New Zealand,
on the other. In those parts of South Africa where it mostly
congregates it is a shore-bird, and we know it best on the
KaH'rarian coast, where it occurs in fours and fives up to small
parties of nearly a score as the season advances. A few
remain all the year round, and why these also do rot go
away in seasonal migration we cannot exactly tell, any
more than it is known vet whv tlie odd ones remain in tlie

2-t

On the Curlew in South Africa.

north and brave out the European winter ; possibly they are
young birds in a backward state o£ development in respect
of family instincts.

The Curlew has no domestic duties in South Africa, and we
can say their numbers markedly increase during November,
while early in February they begin giving us their farewell
cries.^ It is then they set out to those distant lands above
mentioned— any how, at that time of the year, one may know
they have started night-flights by hearing their short plaintive
calls long after sunset. We are under the impression they
travel south-westwards along the coast, but do not positively
assert they do, because it is quite possible the distant signal-
whistles ascribed to the retiring flocks really proceeded from
individuals approaching the listener, but generally the faint
call from the west seems answered nearest overhead.
Gilbert White, who was usually very apt in his descriptions,
somehow saw nothing inappropriate in writing of the
" Curlew's clamourings," but that is a word which may have
passed through a shade or two of meaning since his day.

The Curlew seems to reach Britain in March and breed in
the counties of the moors. We have read somewhere that
along with the Lapwing they were directed by an ancient
Scotch Act of Parliament to be destroyed as " ungrateful
birds that came to Scotland to breed and then return to
England with their young to feed the enemy.'' But the
great majority on migration only make of England a half-
way house of refreshment, as it has been called, where they
recuperate for a still further flight, at the same time discov-
ering their affinity in a mate, and thereafter streaming off
to nesting-homes in northern latitudes. They are sai'd to
leave the south of England when the ice breaks in the
Tundra 2000 miles away, achieving this in one night at an
average of 250 miles per hour and arriving at their destination
fresh as a daisy ! -This looks more like the behaviour of a
projectile, and not the possible exploit of any avian aviator;
yet there are ornithologists who say thev can prove this.
But this is not all ! When the first broods are two months
old they are despatched south-west to where their parents

On some icideh/ distributed Birds. 25

had such pleasant times in Spring. It would seem that all
the parents' knowledge and accumulated experience is trans-
mitted to the offspring, even including that sort of psychic
faculty which tells them exactly to the day when King Frost
has lost his grip and growth has regained the mastery in
their Siberian haunts. This mysterious sixth sense, we are
told, is located in a perilymph just behind the ear, and with-
out that perilymph it is as impossible of exercise as sight is
without an eye. In proof of this, it is stated that a young
Curlew which had lost its friends, and strayed to where it
had no business to be, was examined by a knowing ornitho-
logist, w^ho succeeded in demonstrating that the usual duct
behind the ear was so undeveloped that the bird could hardly
do otherwise than wander fi'om its fellows.

These may appear to some readers astonishing claims, and
we must therefore explain that this brief statement of them
is from a serious article in a serious magazine, " The Watcher
and his Feathered Friends'" in the * Nineteenth Century'
for May, where a good few other wonderful incidents
illustrative of bird-sense are detailed.

East London,

July, 1915.

IV. — Remarks upon some xcidely distributed Groups of Birds
containimj distinctive Family Iraits. By Ambrose A. Lane.

There has, I believe, been some opposition of late to -the
multiplication of new species and subspecies, the latter being
often based upon some very trifling variation from a normal
type. This, combined with alterations in the nomenclature
adopted by the older naturalists, and hitherto generally
accepted, tends to lead the study of ornithology into a path
very intricate to follow, even by those who possess the leisure
and facilities to give the matter thorouoh attention. For the
amateur, and sportsman, who enjoys it as a spare-time hobby,
it threatens to cause such bewilderment as may eliminate
much of the interest and popularity which such a branch of
scientific research may well attract. A certain amount of

2Q Mr. Ambrose A. Lane on some

co-operation in this, as in most other matters, should lead to
the best organization for all parties interested to work upon ;
so that the anatomical expert in the museum laboratory can
keep in touch with the field-naturalist and sportman, who
studies the same species alive amidst their natural surround-
ings. Whereas the former may find deviations in structure
or marking that may suggest a new species, the field-
observer may encounter large numbers of closely allied forms
possessing such characteristic traits that he would never
think of classifying them as other than mere local variations
of the same species — interesting enough in themselves, but
not to be dissociated from the type represented by the genus
to which they belong. In no way is this more striking to the
traveller than the often surprisingly similar movements or
utterances which confirm the individuality between species
of the same family or genus, although separated by the
widest geographical distribution, whilst now and again a
strong connecting link will be found between species of widely
differing families. Thus the Bush-Wrens (Pteroptochida?), a
very distinctive S. American family, show some striking
similarities to the Gallinpe — most species of Bush-Wren, being
chiefly terrestrial in habit, having immensely developed run-
ning powers, wings shaped like a Guinea-fowl, and possessing
the same reluctance to take to flight, if they can escape by
running. In addition, the very peculiar note of some species
of Bush-Wren resembled the crowing of a Gallinaceous
bird.

But these may be chance resemblances, or contracted by
similarity of habit, as the Pteroptochidse take the place in
wooded slopes and glades on the S. Pacific coast which is
economically occupied by the Pheasant-group elsewhere.
Apart from these resemblances, which may be merely for-
tuitous, are the very decided characteristics of widely separated
species of the same genus. Take, for instance, the genus
Turdus. I have only seen to my knowledge two kinds in
S. Africa, neither of which I had the opportunity of identi-
fying as to the exact species, but even the most casual obser-
vation was sufficient to place them without hesitation in

Kidely distributed Birds. 27

tlie group of true Thrushes to which they belonged. The
movements and utterances observed were as characteristic
of the Thrush as those of T. musicus in Engkmd, or T. falk-
landicus in the Chiloe Archipelago, and probably as closely
resembled by other Turdidfe equally far removed in other
parts of the globe. In the same way, an equally close
connection may be found in widely distributed forms of the
common Meadow-Pipit — in fact, Anthns corre/tdera of the
Andean Cordilleras, A. pratensis of the British Isles, and
A. leucophrys of the Transvaal are almost indistinguishable
to the casual observer in appearance, habits, and note. The
genera Parus (Tits) and Motacilla (Wagtails) of the Old
World though varying in colour and markings, are usually as
identical in habits.^ both in the Northern and Southern Hemi-
spheres, though represented in each by distinct sjiecies widely
separated from each other. The same may be said of many
other genera, such as Lanius (Shrikes), Turtur (Doves),
Saxicola (Stonechats), Caprimuhjus (Nightjars), and many
more, showing striking family traits in appearance, habits,
etc. The genus Hirundo (Swallows) has a fairly universal
distribution, yet most of its species seem so characteristic as
to be unmistakable whenever met with ; and the same may be
said of Columba (Pigeons), Ti)iiiuncidus (Kestrels), Buteo
(Buzzards), Ardea (Herons), Fulica (Coots), Gallinula
(Waterhens), Gallinago (Snipes), Anas (Ducks), Charadrivs
(Ring-Plover), and many others which occur both in the
Old World and the New. Whether a Coot be F. gigantea
on an Andean lagoon, F. atra on an English lake, or F.
cristaia on a S. African dam or vlei, there is no mistaking
the bird for a Fulica. There is somewhat more variety in
appearance and colour between C. araxicania^ C. palumhus,
C. livia, C. pha'onota, and others from localities scattered
all over the globe ; but each Columba is so true to the Pigeon-
type that we cannot fail to identify it as a close connection.
Sea and shore birds do not show so much variety of species,
as the latter have usually such an extensive range and the
conditions of existence being more uniform than in the
case of land-birds that local varieties are apparently less

28 On some widely distributed Birds.

developed, except in the case o£ the Penguins, Cormorants^
and a few others whose powers of locomotion are limited.

A much greater variety in appearance and form is to be
found amongst those species of the Flover-family of the
Lapwing-type. The English "Peewit" (Vannellus vulgaris),
the S. American " Fraile " ( V. cai/ennensis), and the two
S. African genera Stephanihyx and /ioyDZopi^rus("Kievietje"),
and probably many others, all possess the same family traits,
akliough the Peewit has a more graceful mode of flight and
does not make such a clamour as the other species mentioned;
still they are each most characteristic of their type, and none
of them could well be mistaken for any other. Those birds
which attach themselves to human habitations usually acquire
a wide range, but seem su1)ject to diverge into local types,
thouoh still bearing close resemblance to the orioinal stock.
Such is the case with the Sparrow {Passer) in the Old World;
it did not originally exist in the New, so far as I know, but
its place is taken all over temperate S. America by the Diuca
Finch (i). grisea), whose white throat and light slate colouring-
give it a vastly different appearance — but in its attachment
to human habitations, its nest, and eggs, it is as much oi
a Sparrow as the S. African "mossie." On the other hand,
the S. American Song-Sparrow {ZonotricJiia pileata) resem-
bles the genus Passer more or less in plumage, bnt its song
and habits are more like those of the Chaffinch.

In conclusion, I would suggest that in any scheme of
classification one should hesitate before subdividing any
existing species, unless very conclusive reasons exist for
doing so.

It also appears to me that we have already too many
genera. Certain species very closely connected in habits
and presenting marked characteristics of one particular family
may vary slightly in structure, but this should not entitle
them to a separate genus — in fact, to the field-naturalist and
sportsman, who wishes to identify such species in their natural
haunts, it often causes some confusion. We want our local
lists to be of practical use, and a classification that can be
readily comprehended and practically applied.

On the Biixh of the Kaffrarimi Frontier. 29

y. — Sirds of the Kafrarkin Frontier.
By Frank A. 0. Pym, Curator, King Williams Town Museum.

To the list of 200 Birds of the Kaffrarian Frontier, which
appeared in the Journal of the S.A.O.U. in October 1909,
the following species, which have since been observed, should
be added : —

EsTRiLDA SUBFLAVA. (Orange-breasted Waxbill.) — Rare.
Specimens collected K.W.Town, December 1912 ; Amabele,
June 1913.

Spermestes scutatus. (Hooded Weaver-Finch.) — Appa-
rently a migrant.

Pyromelana taha. (Taha Bishop-Bird ) — Uncommon.
Examples observed at Pirle Halt, February to April 1911.

Vidua paradisea. (Paradise Widow-Bird.) — Very rare.
Specimen taken at Breidback, January 1909.

Certhilauda rufula. (Rufous Long-billed Lark.) —
Bolotwa, June 1912.

Anthus nicholsoni. (Nicholson's Pipit.) — Pirie, July
1910.

Anthus pyrrhonotus. (Cinnamon-backed Pipit.) — K.
W. Town and Pirie.

Anthobaphes violacea. (Orange-bfeasted Sun-bird.) —
Very rare. Specimen taken, Pirie Forest in October.

Laniarius MARAisT. (Marais's Bush-Shrike.) — Rare.
Pirie Forest, May 1909.

Parisoma layardi. (Layard's Tit -Babbler.) — Pirie
Forest.

Phyllorcopus trochtlus. (Willow- Wren.) — Migrant.
K. W. Town, November to March.

30 Mr. Frank A. 0. Pym on the

Cryptolopha ruficapilla. (rellow-tliroated Flycatcher-
Warbler.) — Scarce.

Ohlorodyta florisltga. (Eastern Black-breasted Bush-
Warbler.)— Pirie Forest.

■ CiSTicoLA TiNNiENS. (Levaillant's Grass -Warbler.) —
Pirie Forest.

AcROCEPHALUS B^.TiCATUS. (African Reed- Warbler.) —
Observed in Pirie Forest.

Eremomela flaviventris. (Yellow-bellied Bush-War-
bler.)— Bolotwa.

CisTicoLA NATALENSis. (Natal Grass-Warbler.) — Pirie,
Dec. 1911.

Emarginata sinuata. (Sickle- winged Chat.) — Kei
Road.

Saxicola familiaris. (Familiar Chat.) — Pirie Forest.

Hemipteryx minuta. (Little Pinc-pinc Warbler.) — Not
uncommon. Very similar in appearance to C'lsticola terrestris
(Wren Grass-Warbler).

Mttscicapa GRisoLA. (Spotted Flycatcher.) — Rare. One
specimen taken near K. W. Town, 24th March, 1909.

Campophaga hartlaubi. (Hartlaub^s Cuckoo-Shrike.) —
Rare. St. Matthews, October 1914.

PsALiDOPROCNE HOLOMEL.ENA. (Black Rough-M'inged
Swallow.) — Not common.

Ci^PSELUS BARBATUS. (Black Swift.) — Abundant at Pirie
at certain seasons.

Thripias namaquus. (Bearded Woodpecker.) — Rare.
Specimen obtained from Great Kei Drift, August 1910.

CocCYSTES HYPOPiNARius. (Black-and-Grey Cuckoo.) —
Uncommon. Erroneously recorded in my previous list as
C. jacobiniis.

Birds of tlte Kajrar'ian Frontier. 31

Centropus pymi, spec. nov. (Pjm's Coucal.) — Uncom-
mon. This bird was recorded in my previous list as
C. superciliosus, which apparently does not occur here.

Bubo lacteus. (Verreaux's Eagle-Owl.) — Rare.

TiNNUNCULUS NAUMANNi. (Lessor Kestrel.)— Seen here
in large flocks from October to end of March.

TiNNUNCULUS AMURENSis. (Eastern Red-legged Kestrel.)
— Rare.

MiLvrs ^GYPTius. (Yellow-billed Kite.) — Recorded at
Pirie by Rev. R. Godfrey.

Melierax NIGER. (Black Gabar.) — Very rare. Specimen
received from Toise River, March 1910.

Circus cikeraceus. (Montagu's Harrier.) — Rare.
Specimens shot in open country near K. W. Town, March
1909.

Leptoptilus crumeniferus. (Marobou.) — Very rare.
A specimen was killed near K. W. Town, February 1910.

Pseudotantalus tbis. (Wood-Tl)is.) — Rare. I observed
four specimens at the Keiskama Mouth in March 1910.

Platalea alba. (African Spoonbill.) — Very rare. Speci-
men shot at Keiskama Hoek, January 1913.

Phcenicopterus roseus. (Greater Flamingo.) — Uncom-
mon. Keiskama Mouth, December 1912.

Turxix nana. (Natal Hemipode.) — Uncommon.

PoRPHYRio MADAGASCARiENSis. (King Reed- Hen.) — Rare.
Specimen from Ndabakazi, April 1914.

^GiALiTis MARGIN ATA. (Wliite-f routed Sand-Plover.) —
Common at East London.

ToTANUS HYPOLEUCUS. (Common Sandpiper.) — Have not
seen it inland ; but it occurs at certain seasons along our
coast.

32 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on

ToTANUS GLAREOLA. ( Wo0(l-Saiul[)iper.j — Not uncommon
at East London and Keiskama Mouth.

Sterna cantiaca. (Sandwich-Tern.) — Common at Keis-
kama Mouth, Nahoon, and East London.

Majaqueus ^quinoctialis. (Cape Hen.) — Specimens
observed at East London and Keiskama Mouth.

DiOMEDEA MELANOPHRYS. (Molljmawk.) — East London.

VI. — Birds ill Relation to their Pre tj : Kd'periments on Wood-
Hoopoes, Small Hornhills, and a Babhier. By C. F. M.
Swynnerton, F.L.S., F.E.S., C.M.B.O.U.

The habits o£ birds in rekation to their insect-prey are of
much interest from an entomological point of view, owing to
their bearing on the subjects of insect-coloration and
economic entomology ; and it was in this connection that
I myself originally undertook the series of experiments
of wdiich those recorded in the present paper are a small
pnrt.

It was inevitable, however, that the experiments should
prove highly interesting from an ornithological view-point
too : and I am selecting for this paper three short series
in i^articular that seem to me between them to illustrate
a number of points of ornithological interest, wdthout
being to any too wearisome extent mere lists of insects'
names.

The Prey. — Butterflies were used mainly, but by no means
entirely. This was partly for convenience, partly because it
is this suborder of insects that has been and can be best
studied from the point of view of coloration. That it was
correct to offer butterflies to Telephonus and Lophoceros, I
know from having seen wild individuals of these genera
attacking them. I have no such definite records for Crate-
roptis and Irrisor, yet I cannot helji thinking that the former

Birds in Relation to tlwiv Prey. 3.3

genus, in particular, will be found readily to attack butterflies
under favourable circumstances, and I will discuss tbe point
for Irrisor under its own heading *.

A brief and rough account of souie of the chief insects to
be mentioned may be of use to those of my readers who, not
being entomologists, do not know them by name, yet are
well acquainted with their appearance in the field : —

The Danainpe (^represented in these experiments by the
genera Danaida and Amauris) and the Acra^inse (by Acnea),
each a subfamily of the Nymphalidre, are the two groups
par excellence of African butterflies, the members of which
are frequently objectionable to their enemies. All, too, are
more or less sluggish and fearless. Indigestibility is the
real defence, accompanied in Amauris by a pungent gas-
like smell, in Acrcea by an abundant and readily exuding
poppy-flavoured fluid, in Danaida appreciably by neither.

Danaida clirysippus is our commonest large South African
butterfly. It is chestnut, with a black fore-wing tip that is
crossed diagonally by a very conspicuous white bar. It has
excellent mimics.

Amauris (also a genus of large butterflies) is roughly of
two types — with a large white hind-wing patch [A. ochlea
and A. dominicanus) or a large bujf hind-wing patch {A.
echeria, lohengula, and alhimaculata) . Fore wing black with
w^hite markings.

Acrcea has very numerous species, large and small, mostly
red or reddish brown with black spotting. Abundant every-
where. Of the species most used in these experiments,
A. caldarena is common and has a large black tip to the fore
wing, A. terpsichore (also called huxtoni and serena} is

* The food-huutiiig habits of Crateropus are not 3o very different from
those of Phyllastrephus, and I have seen members of the latter genus
attacking butterflies. The food of Crateroj^us, again, is very varied. I
have myself taken ants, termites, and various beetles, grasshoppers, and
larvae, as well as Hymenopterous, Dipterous, and Lepidopterous remains
from its stomachs ; and four stomachs that I have just examined with
some care all contained debris of the last-mentioned kind — I cannot say
whether of butterflies or moths.

3

34 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on

smaller and of a very bright orange-chestnut above ; A. acara
(mimicked by dry-season Precis natalensh), A. areca, A.
anemosa, and A. natalica are three very large species, the
former especially, with a very brilliant red male, and all with
bold black markings. A. aglaonka is only as large as
A. caldarena, but a brilliant species.

The Nvmphalinge and Satyrin?e never (in my experience)
descend to the depths of unpleasantness displayed by the
other twoNymphalid subfamilies, though some are moderately
objectionable, and the Nymphalinpe in particular comprise
many of our most active, edible, and protectively-coloured
butterflies. Of the species mentioned in the following
experiments, cebrene, cheUa, and hoopis are three smallish
species of Precis, with highly protective undersides and with
more or less dark blue on the hind-wing's upper surface (and
in cebrene much ochreous yellow), that keep flying on and
settling in the path ahead of a walker. Precis natalensis,
wet-season form, is a bright salmon-red, rough mimic of au
Acrcea, its dry-season (sesamus) form a large black butterfly
with much blue on the upper surface. Precis archesia and
artaxia are two browner forms, the latter with a "• peacock "'
eye on each hind wing and a leaf-like underside. All are
ground-settlers and all are wary. Atella plialantlia (foliage-
frequenting), Byhlia and Catacroptera cloantha (grass) are
bright fulvous-orange insects with black markings above, the
last-named butterfly somewhat hairy on the under surface,
and the first and the last with much wariness and activity.
Hamanumida dcedalus, a ground-settler, is a grey-brown
butterfly above with guinea-fowl spotting, and is also active
and wary, as is Pyrameis cardui, the well-known " Painted
Lady.^' Leptis and Eiirytela hiarhas are small, black, foliage-
haunting butterflies with a white band across both wings on
each side and a flicking flight. The larger Cliaraxes are
very heavy-bodied, strong, fruit-eating butterflies — C. brutus
beino- like a large Eurytela hiarhas, black, with a white
diao-onal stripe across both fore and hind wing. C. neantlies
is a small species, rather Ak'//a-like in coloration, but paler
and with tails.

Birds in Relation to their Prey. 35

Of the Satyrines used, Yphtldma, Mycalesis, unci llenotena
are small, brown, low-flying butterflies, the tirst two with
feebler flight and relatively fearless habits, the last, a paler
brown, better at hiding itself, and usually warier.

In the Pininse, or " Whites," IVrias comprises the small
bright yellow butterflies so common in South Africa, Belenois
medium-sized whites with dark margins and (often) ner\ures,
Mylothris with an orange base to the wings, and Leptoria the
small, delicate, dainty "wood-whites." All four, and the
last two particularly, seem to come low in the estimation of
the average bird, and they possess mimics. Catopsilia
fioretla is the common, large, strong-winged " white,^' with
some females white, some yellow, and with a very active
flight. The removal of its strongly-attached stifl:" wings
sometimes oives a bird much trouble.

The Papilioninse comprise our Swallow-tails — some, it is
true, without the swallow-tail. Of those to be mentioned,
Papilio demodocus (often in Agricultural Journals called
demoleus, but that is the Indian form) is the very large
yellow-and-black-chequered butterfly, the larva of which is
so destructive to orange-trees. P. lyceus is the large,
common, black butterfly with a metallic blue or green bar
across both wungs (represented by white on the male's
underside). Papilio anyolanus, also common, is white with
a broad, black, white-spotted margin that in the fore wing-
occupies in addition the whole apical half, and with crimson
bars to its wings on their under surface. Papilio dardanns
is, in the male, a very large lemon-yellow butterfly with
swallow-tails, a black fore-wing margin. and apex, and a
broken, black, submarginal band in the hind wing. Its
females nearly resemble it in Madagascar, but in Africa
resemble closely instead various quite unrelated butterflies
belonging totheDanainoe and Acrseinse, lack the swallow-tails,
and are known as forms cenea^ liippocoon, trophonius, &c.

The remaining insects used hardly require description
here. It will be seen that on Crateropus (of the birds here
dealt with) I tested various other defences besides nauseous-
ness. Birds' methods, as against each of these, and other

3*

36 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on

interesting considerations arising out of the experiments, I
will deal with in my concluding remarks.

Irrisor erythrorhynchus (Lath.).

1909, Jan. 9. — Three Wood-Hoopoes of this species were
brought to me to-day by Isitiki. He had just taken all
three roosting together in a hole in a large Mutsatsa-tree
{Bracliystegia randii) ten or eleven feet from the ground.
He had had to enlarge the hole with his axe in order to
insert his hand.

Now, all three birds had the red bill, though it was
perfectly obvious, from their mutual behaviour, that at least
one of them was the young of one of the others. This \vas
at once interesting, for it suggested a date by which the
red bill is assumed (the young bird being unlikely to date
from before the previous breeding-season), and at the same
time showed that the young remain with their parents and
are still, to some extent, under parental guidance in matters
of food-choice, &c. [a later incident will illustrate this well],
for, at any rate, close on a year after birth.

The birds were rather shy (as was natural), but, with a
little timidity, accepted food from me at once (the large
dull-coloured Noctuid moth, SpJdngomorplia chlorea, and,
rather less readily, grasshoppers). Not only so, but they
thank me (as I judge) for what I give them, in the most
quaint and fascinating manner. Accepting each insect in
the point of the bill, the bird rises up and down, bill held
vertically upwards, tail dragging backwards and forwards
on the floor of the cage (for the birds, even when using the
perches, still descend at my approach) in the quaintest of
oft-repeated bows, and only after this will it jerk the food
into" the back of its throat and swallow it. It will swallow
it, that is, if it has not already been taken from it by one of
its companions I [That the birds should have been too
friendly at once is to be regarded, I think, as correlated
with the fact that they are probably highly disliked by
enemies. At any rate, such bird-eating animals as I have

Birch in Relation to their Prey. 37

myself offered the species to have shown the very greatest
repugnance to it.

My offering of butterflies to these birds will be criticised
by those who are only superficially acquainted with their
well-known bark-searching habits and with the habits of the
butterflies that inhabit the same wooded pastures. That
cockroaches, wood-lice, and bark-hauuting beetles and larvse
would have been letter may be at once admitted. But many
butterflies rest on bark, some, as Crenis and some Lycsenids,
habitually, whether temporarily or for their prolonged rest.
Again, this Irrisor, as I have occasionally seen, will sometimes
attack insects passing close on the wing ; and Danaida,
Acrcea acara, and various smaller Acrseinae, YpMliima, various
species of Precis and of some other Nymphaline genera, and
Terias and BeJenois amongst Pierines, are not only the most
conspicuous of such passing insects, but they are so
abundant in Irrisor s, hunting-ground that they are really
quite likely to be the fairly frequent mark of such attacks,
experimental or for food, as I have referred to. My own
experience of the bird by no means leads me to endorse the
view that it necessarily feeds chiefly on cockroaches, and the
stomachs of six specimens collected for me by Odendaal in
1907—8 also suggests a very varied diet. The contents are
spread before me as I write this, and a glance over them shows
that beetles come easily first in importance — beetles of various
families, and not all of them of bark-haunting species.
Next come larvre, including two moth-larvpe that feed on
the foliage of Brachjstegia. Grasshoppers, spiders, green
Pentatomid bugs that frequent foliage, cockroaches — one or
two of each, — and a Tipulid fly (I think) are also present.
No butterfly-remains are visible, but I have placed a small
sample of debris from each stomach under the microscope,
and in one (Odendaal's No. 309) have found the scales and
socketed membrane- scraps of some Lepidopteron — whether
moth or butterfly, I cannot say.

Expt. .501. Jan. 10. — It became fairly clear in the course
of the following experiment that A, with long bill and tail
and the usual adult green gloss on the head, was a parent

38 Mr, 0. F. M. Swynnerton on

of C. B, with the same green gloss and long tail, had
a shorter bill and her relationship was less obvious, as she
was timid and kept in the background. C had a shorter
tail and a short but red bill and a blue head. A takes the
lead in everything, from bowing to attempting to demolish
the cage. He is probably the male parent, B the female
parent, and C the young bird.

I placed in the cage a number of grasshoppers and
locuslids of various species intermingled with ten individuals
of the common, fairly large Noctuid moth Sjjhingoinorpha
cMorea, very greatly liked by my birds generally, a small
heap of larval migratory locusts, and twenty-four butterflies,
also the sluggish and unpleasant-seeming whitish day-flying
moth, Olapa ymda.

They were put in at 9 a.m. Shortly afterwards the birds
began to feed, selecting only the Sphingomorphas. At
10 A.M. the locust-heap was still fairly intact, all the
Sphingomorphas were gone, wings and all (only one individual
wing left), the Olapa lay unmolested though conspicuous
(probably known and disliked by the birds in their wild
state), and nearly all the grasshoppers had been eaten. Six
were still left.

At 12.20 P.M. all the locusts and the remaining six grass-
hoppers w^ere gone completely, with the exception of one or
two insignificant fragments. The butterfly results were
unreliable, for the weather was unusually hot and dry and
the thorax, at least, of all but the form Papilio angolanus was
already faii'ly dry and the wings stiffening before the
experiment began. Still a Hamanumida dcedahis, a Precis
natalensis (wet-season form), a Precis archesia (wet-season
form) , two Precis artaxia, a Precis ceryne, a Precis cehrene
(out of three, the others much broken up, but very dry in
any case), and a Precis bodpis, var. madagascariensis, and a
Belenois mesentina had been eaten (with the exception, in
some cases, of battered-off fragments. The moth Olapa, the
four Papilio angolanus, the Pierine butterflies Belenois
severina (two), Teracolits pldegyas, MylotJiris sp., Terias sp.
(two), and Pinacopterijx pigea, also the only Acrcea of the

Birds in Relation to their Preij. 39

experiment — A. areca, ? , a large species normally well
supplied with readily exuding poppy-flavoured fluid — were
uneaten, with the exception of an abdomen each of a
Belenois and the Teracolus. On my opening the tray a
Belenois severina, which had fallen behind it, was picked
up and swallowed.

It is probably more than a coincidence (making all
allowance for the drying of the butterflies) that all the
Nymphaline butterflies of the experiment should have been
eaten or (in the case of the two remaining dry Precis cehrene)
heavily attacked — all of them, with the defences of procryptic
underside or great activity and wariness strongly developed;
while the white and bright yellow Pierines except Belenois,
a highly conspicuous black and white Popilio with crimson
underside wing-bases, and a sluggish day-flying moth \Aere
left — tried indeed (but the Pinacopteryx and Catopsilia showed
merely very slight wing-damage), but rejected.

In general, the Noctuid moth Spldngomorpha had been
preferred to dull-coloured grasshoppers, these probably to
the larval migratory locusts, and these again to any butterflies
— though the drying of the latter (some of which were
attacked early) may have accounted sufficiently for their
low placing.

502. Jan. 10 (later experiment). — In this I offered the
butterflies individually by the forceps, mostly through a
narrow crack in the woodwork of the cage. With the
exception of the butterflies specified and of the first Papilio
angolanus, left over rejected from the previous experiment,
but used again because still supple, all were probably caught,
and the birds' general attitude towards them contrasted with
the disinclination displayed for the more or less dry butterflies
of the previous experiment.

A took the P. angolanus in the point of his bill and dropped
it, having obviously no use for it (it was wingless, too), but
he tasted well and readily ate two Precis artaxia (dull brown
and very leaf-like underside) and wrenched from the forceps
a thorax of Precis natalen sis (dry-season form), C taking the
abdomen. I offered a dry one. He ran it from side to side

40 Mr. C. F. M. Swvnnerton on

through his bill and dropped it ; but ran through his bill for
a few seconds and sicaUoiced a fresh one. Rejected another
dry one, but tasted and at once swallowed a further fresh one
and a Precis madagascariensis. He then took a Catopsilia
florella, tasted it, and turning right round to (\ who was
behind him, gave it to her ; tasted a second one and ate it
himself ; accepted a Papilio angolamis, ran it from side to
side in the point of his bill, bowed to me several times, still
holdinor it, then ran it through his bill again and swallowed
it ; took the very favourite moth, Splmutomorpha cMorea,
away from C and swallowed it himself; accepted a i?_?/?>//a,
but allowed C to have it; and accepted five larval migratory
locusts. He swallowed the first three of them, but deliberately
turned round and passed on the fourth to C Tlie fifth he
also offered to C, but, on the latter bird's ignoring it, he ace
it himself.

C tasted and readily swallowed two Precis a7'ta.via. I
offered a third. This time she was watching the crack
eagerly and darted her bill right into it, seized the butterfly
directly it appeared on the other side, and promptly swallowed
it, treating a fourth in exactly the same way ; then wrenched
from the forceps the abdomen of the P. natalensis, of which
A simultaneously secured the thorax, swallowed it; accepted,
tasted, and readily swallowed the Catopsilia jiorella handed
her b}"- A, and a second, also a Papilio angolanus, a Terias,
two more P. angolanus, two Byhlia (species not stated, but
probably goetzivs), and an Ypthima near impura ; accepted a
moth. Spiling omorplia chlorea, but (as already related) had it
taken from her by A ; then took from A, with his apparent
consent, a Byhlia ; accepted and ate the first larval migratory
locust offered her by A, and ignored the second.

B, on my accidentally dropping a wingless Pr^m- natalensis
at the commencement of the experiment, rushed forward
from the back of the cage, picked up, in apparent mistake
for it, the wingless Papilio angolanus that A had just rejected,
tasted it, and swallowed it — then found and ate the Precis,
too. Later in the experiment she tasted and ate a Terias
hrigitta.

Comment!. — The incident in which A rejected dry, but ate

Birch in T^elufion to their Prey. 41

fresli, butterflies of the same species is instructive for its
bearing on the last experiment. His offering to the younger
bird, C, two butterflies and a migratory locust, yet wresting
from her the very favourite Koctuid moth Sphingomorpha
was of interest. I judge, though I do not find it definitely
stated, that the butterflies of this experiment were all offered
without wings. All that can be said about preferences
(unless the rejection of the first P. a^iyolamis by A be
regarded as reliable) is that the birds were obviously hungry
enough to gladly eat any of the butterflies used, and that
they had no objection to eating them when they were hungry
enough.

.503. Jan. 11. — The birds were first supplied with food in
order that their acceptances might not be the result of
hunger. While they were engaged in feeding, I offered —
with a view to ascertaining to what extent, if at all, they
were hampered by the wings of butterflies and moths respec-
tively— first, a Catopsilia floreUa. A took it and, after a good
deal of difficulty and ineffective fumbling, succeeded in
taking off all but one hind wing with the point of his bill and
swallowed the butterfly. He easily swallowed a Sphinyo-
morpha chlorea, head first, wings and all ; but of a second
clipped the wings off with his bill close to its sides before
swallowing the body. He then took the huge brown moth,
Nyctipao nuicrops, so common uuder eaves and in out-houses,
and, after some slight ineffectual attempts to clip off the
wings, succeeded in getting its abdomen in a firm grip
between claw and pouch, and then with comiarative ease
and precision levered oft' each wing separately at its junction
with the body, using the point of his bill. He then jumped
with it to the ground (probably to escape the unwelcome
attentions of C), and with several snips of the basal half
of the bill severed the ulxlomen from the thorax. The
former he swallowed himself, and the thorax he offered
to C. C accepted and swallowed it readily. She had just
before taken from me a Catopsilia fiorella and swallowed
it head first, wings and all, wi h a great deal of jerking and
difficulty.

It seemed that while wings hampered the birds, they

42 ]\rr. C, F. M. Swynnorton on

failed to deter them. The methods employed were quite
interesting.

The rest of the experiment ran as follows : — A ate a
Precis archesia (wet-season) and a P. artaa-ia, C three P. ar-
taxia. The last she eagerly swallowed down without even
waiting to give it the usual preliminaiy tasting, and both she
and A at once eagerly stretched up to the crack for the next
that might he coming. A secured it and, having tasted it
handed it over to C, who eagerly swallowed both it and
another. She then ate two Precis natalensis (wet-season).
A third was taken by A and passed on by him to C. C held
it for a few seconds in the point of her bill without swallowing
it, whereupon A again seized the butterfly with apparent
impatience atCs dallying, extracted it after a short struggle
from C's grip and swallowed it himself ; then accepted and
ate two more P. natalensis without troubling to offer them
to C. Each bird then ate a Belenois mesentina and A a
Painted Lady {Pyrameis cardiii). C took a Papilio ango-
laniis, but delayed, as before, to eat it, and A, as before,
grew impatient and suddenly snatched away the thorax ;
C promptly swallowed the abdomen, and turning on A re-
annexed the thorax and swallowed it too, then ate two more
of the Papilios in quick succession. A Papilio lyceus (large,
black, with blue diagonal stripe) that C next accepted was
taken from me by A,and by him tasted and at once swallowed.
C quickly ate a P. angolanus and a Bi/hlia. A took a Terias
(small, bright yellow butterfly) twice in the point of his bill,
and each time threw it away without bothering to taste it.
It w^as picked up by B, who was all the time at the bottom
of the cage — the more timid of the three birds, — and dropped,
picked up again, and when I saw it last, several minutes
later, was still being held in the point of the bill uneaten.

Apart from this rejection of the Terias and the hesitation
to eat it shown by B, the main interest of the experiment
lies once more in the attitude of A to C. A was quite
prepared to offer food to C, but said " If you are not hungry
enough to swallow it promply, I am ! You had better give
it back again I " The Lyceus incident was probably in

JJinh in Relation to their Prey. 415

line with that of the SpJiingomorpha in the last experiment, a
temptation too strong for A — for P. hjceus has been by nearly
all my birds liked much better than P. angolaniis. But A's
general attitude was like that of some Bulbuls [Piicnonotus
lat/ardi) that I have since watched feeding a young bird.
If the latter were insutiiciently hungry for an insect brought,
this was always taken back and eaten by the parent,

504. Jan. ] 1 (evening). — Five Papilio angolaniis. a Hypo-
Umnas misippiis, four Precis natale?isis, a I^ejjtis agatha (wings
and all), and an Atella plialantha were eaten between them
by the three Hoopoes. No refusals, so the experiment merely
indicates readiness to eat certain butterflies under certain
conditions of appetite.

505. Jan. 12. — B ate three Terias, and A ate three Teriaa,
wings and all, but took the next three by the wings and
dropped them without further tasting. He ate, in the course
ot the experiment, four Precis natalensis (wet-season), nine
P. artaxia, and one each of P. arcliesia (w^et-season),
P. cenjne, and P. cehrene — all these in rapid succession. He
showed more and more eagerness during the offering of the
nine P. artaxia, towards the end passing his bill through
the crack in the wood through which I was passing them
directly the preceding one was swallowed, and pushing and
fumbling eagerly through till the next one came.

506. Jan. 13. — An interesting experiment. I placed in
the birds^ food-dish two Dunaida chrysippus (a large chestnut
butterfly with a white bar across the fore-wing tip, common
everywhere and believed to be highly nauseous) and four
dull Noctnid moths, Sphingomorplia cJdorea. A and B at
once tackled the latter, eagerly eating them all after stripping
them of wings. A gave one thorax to C. He then picked
up a Danaida clu'ysippns by the wing in a gingerly manner
and dropped it again, and both birds (A and B) then retired
to th( ir perches and took no further notice of the butterflies.

I then offered, in the usual way, through the crack, a
Dancdda chrysippus. The wings were not seen, as I only
placed the body in the crack. A, watching eagerly for what
was coming through, tasted the thorax and refused to have

44 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton o»

anything further to do with the butterfly, ate a SpMngomorplm
c/i/ojva, looked closely at a unngless D. c/irysipjot/s, and refused
to take even this. On my offering the same butterfly through
the bars directly to C, the latter at once took and swallowed
it, probably hungry enough. But she refused a second with-
out tasting, two or three times. I offered it to A. He would
hare nothing to do with it. But C leant across, snatched it
from the forceps and began to run it through her bill. A most
interesting scene ensued. A at once pushed up against C,
rubbed his bill against the perch (a very common sign of dislike
in insectivorous birds), croaked, once (after several attempts
— a slight struggle) seized the Danaida as it projected from
C's bill, and let go again in an emphasized manner, repeated
these manoeuvres — seemed, in fact, to be trying, by every
means in his power, to dissuade C from eating the butterfly.
C, however, continued to run it from side to side through
his bill for a good many seconds after A had ceased his efforts,
and then finally rejected it. I now offered a wingless
Hamanumida dcrdahis throuo-h the crack. A regarded it
with suspicion, took the abdomen and at once dropped it.
C tasted the thorax very thoroughly and swallowed it. I
offered another. A took it, ran it through his bill time after
time, evidently suspicious of me and tasting it very thoroughly,
and finally swallowed it. Then A, B, and C each ate a
SpMngomorpha cJdorea.

A's attempt to dissuade his nearly one-year-old offspring
from eating a Danaida chrysippus was an incident of quite
exceptional interest, as showing how long the parental influ-
ence in such matters may continue.

507. Jan. 15. — A readily accepted and ate, after tearing
off all but one hind wing, a Catopsilia florella with wings,
reached up twice and looked at ?i Precis 7iatalensis (wet-seamn
form reminiscent of Acrcea acara) xvith icings, and sank down
without attem[)ting to take it. On my persisting in offering
it to him, he just snatched it from the forceps with the point
of his bill and threw it violently to the other side of the cage.
But he accepted and readily ate two butterflies of the same
species and form without wings, examining the first for a

Birds in Relation to their Prey. 45

second before taking it, but stretching up eagerly for the
second ; and he afterwards bowed to me steadily for nearly
a minute, with the latter in his bill, before swallowing it. I
offered another to C, but A leaned over and snatched it away
before she could reach it and at once ate it, afterwards readily
eating two Precis artaxia in succession and a Precis madagas-
cariensis, all without wings, and two more of the last-named
species with wings (turned to show the eye-spots). Two more
without wings were eaten, one by B and one by C, and one
ivith wings was taken by ( ;. After a great deal of trouble she
stripped off the wings, but accidentally dropped the butterfly*
She at once descended and made a great search for it, failing,
however, to find it.

A ignored absolutely a Danaida ch^i/sijjpus with wings,
reached up and examined a Byhlia with suspicion, and retired
again. On my reofFering it, body first and with only one
land wing still attached, he tasted, it and readily swallowed
it, regarded with suspicion an Atella phalantha with its
b]-ight fulvous-orange upper surface displayed, but took it
and nearly stripped it of wings, then dropped it. Reoffered,
he tasted and this time swallowed it.

Now, very curiously, he accepted a Danaida chrysippus
with wings, without apparently much more hesitation than
in the case of the Atella — perhaps his experiences here may
have suggested to him that he was sometimes wrong in his
suspicions ! — stripped it slowly of its wings, and finally
dropped it- I offered another. This A partly stripped of
wings, running it time after time through its bill. Even-
tually, to my surprise, he swallowed it. C, wdio had been
watching her father eat it, with some hesitation accepted one
too, stripped it of wings and swallowed it. A reached up to
an Acrcea acara with wings that I now offered, examined it,
and at once sank back and refused to have anything to do
with it. On my persistently reofFering it, however, he
allowed himself to be persuaded. He took the butterfly,
partly stripped it of wings, and swallowed it. B also fell a
victim to my blandishments. She partly stripped a P. chry-
sippus and ate, at all events, the abdomen, leaving the greater
part of the thorax.

46 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on

" And then the troubles began to brew." Four minutes
after his last acceptance A pointed his bill, wide open,
downwards and commenced to strain. A brown fluid like
tobacco-juice exuded in some quantity. This was followed
by a small pellet composed of two wings o'i Danaida together
with a mass of legs and smaller particles that perhaps
represented the soft parts of the body. C then followed suit
with exactly the same symptoms. Both birds looked the
picture of dejection and misery, and kept on straining at
short intervals without bringing anything up. A finally
brought up another mass which I did not at once examine,
but which presumably included the Acrcea acara and some
remnants of the Danaida. B had not been sick up to the
conclusion of the experiment, but, like the others, looked
dejected.

I next offered A and C another Danaida with wings.
They both refused it several times in succession. After the
first one or two offerings, they would, each time it appeared
through the crack, both start rubbin^ their beaks against
the sides of the cage and on their perches with every sign
of disgust, looking at me all the time as much as to say
" That isn't nice." Two or three times they reached up and
(still with an eye on me .!) nearly closed their bills on the
Danaida, but flung their heads violently to one side before
actually doing so, and reverted to the bill-rubbing perform-
ance. It was an exceedingly clear piece of bird-language.

I next offered a D. clirysippus with the wings removed.
Both birds examined it closely and refused to touch it. I
offered an excellent mimic of the Danaida — namely, female
Hypolimnas misippiis, with wings. It was refused by both
birds, without tasting, several times. I then offered it
without wings. The difference in colour between the two
butterflies, even with wings removed, is but slight. The
Hypolimnas is a little stouter and " Nymphaline," and there
are one or two differences in detail — the white spots, for
instance, extending conspicuously on to the underside of the
abdomen in the mimic, — and there is a somewhat different
appearance in the external '' texture." A examined the insect

Birds in Relation to their Prey. 47

suspioiouslj, and finally decided against it. V> examined it
closely too, and ended by slightly tasting it and taking it from
the forceps, but she too was very suspicious, and in the end
dropped it. Even then she wavered, for she leant right over
it and was obviously debating whether to pick it up again.
But she didn^t. A Teracohis j^hlegyas (" Purple-Tip '';
was taken in its bill by each bird, but suspiciously dropped.
A SjjJiingomorpJta chlorea vcas eagerly eaten by each. The
Teracolus was perhaps reminiscent of Mtjlothris or Belenois,
both low-grade insects, or else, being somewhat low-grade
itself, the birds were not hungry enough for it.

I reoftered the II. misippus after half an hour's interval.
Both A and C still regarded it with the greatest sus[)icion,
and refused steatlily for certainly from two to three minutes
to have anything whatsoever to do with it. Finally, C
accepted it, ran it through his bill several times^ tasting it
very thoroughly, and swallowed it. I offered a Teracolus
jMegyas with wings. It was taken by A, thoroughly tasted
and swallowed.

I later examined A^s second pellet. It contained the
abdomen, hind-wing ,and greater part of thorax of the Acrcea
acara, the thorax and abdomen of the Danaida, and the
head of one or other of these two, as well as a few legs and
smaller indistinguishable particles. No portions of other
butterflies or of Sphinyomorpha cJdorea.

Comments. The experiment was full of interest. The
refusal of Precis natalensis, offered for a chano;e with wino-s,
was presumably due to its resemblance to Acrcca acara,
which the birds should have met with fairly frequently when
wild. The eating by A of the normally refused butterflies
Danaida clirysippus (he had warned 0 against it only yester-
day) and of ^4. acara under my persuasion was interesting,
but the results were yet more so ; though they are paralleled
by the effect produced by such butterflies on several other
species of birds on which I have experimented. The lesson
was effective, for the Hoopoes would not touch another
Danaida. Then the language by which they tried to convey
to me that they regarded it as unfit for food — in the then

48 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnertoii on

state of their digestive capacities — was of the greatest
interest. Bill-rubbing (though also used merely to remove
fluff or saliva, &c.) is a widespread bird-term for refusal of
food, and I have (as stated in another paper) produced the
simultaneous wiping of several bills in various ditferently-
inhabited cages by merely holding up a highly unpleasant
insect in front of them. To almost close the bill on food
and then draw away expresses the same meaning, and was
indulged in by my captive Hollers too.

Finally, we had the persistent refusal of Hypolimnas
misippus after an experience of its " model " D. chrysijypus.
That the relatively slight difference in appearance between
the two bodies was detected by, at any rate, C is also fairly
certain, though it was insufficient to completely dispel her
suspicions. Later she did taste it properly and, reassured,
eat it.

508. Jan. 16. — A and C have escaped. I offered B the
great black and white Danaino butterfly, with gas-like smell,
Amauris dominicanus. It was only just caught, quite un-
damaged and very lively, and it fluttered and banged against
the wire at a great rate. The Hoopoe watched it with the
greatest interest, and every time its movements ceased edged
up to it carefully along the perches. Thereupon the butterfly
would again beo-in to flutter. On the fourth occasion the
bird succeeded in seizing it by the thorax, but she evidently
received an unpleasant sui-prise for she dropped it almost
immediately and edged away to the other side of the cage.
She soon, however, again cautiously approached the Amauris,
which was now lying disabled at the bottom of the cage, a
drop of clear liquid exuding from the thorax, and her action
was most interesting. For she bent over and examined the
butterfly most closely, turned it over by a wing and studied
the other side as closely, appearing to be taking in every
detail. Then she again retired to the further end of the
perch without an attempt to eat the butterfly. The latter
was allowed to remain in the cage together with an Acrcea
caldarena, subsequently offered, for nearly an hour, but,
although the bird ate moths, grasshoppers, and other insects

Birds ill Relation to their Prey. 49

meantime, she made no attempt to renew lier acquaintance
with the two butterflies.

I put in an Acrwa cahlarena alive and fluttering. The
Irrisor hesitated, then made for it, cauoht it with little diffi-
culty by the thorax, and dropped it as promptly as she had
done the Amauris, again retiring to the farthest end of the
perch. But she at once seized, stripped of wings, and
swallowed with the greatest eagerneas Si SphingomorpJia chlorea.

The above-described inspection of an insect found un-
pleasant has been exampled amongst my other birds too.
The fact that birds will thus study the detailed appearance
of their prey is one of very obvious importance entomo-
logically and of interest generally.

509. Jan. 17. — Wet day, no butterflies, but in a momentary
gleam of sunshine I captured a female Hypolimnas misippus
(good mimic of Danaida clirysippus) near the house, and at
once placed it in the Wood-Hoopoe's cage. It immediately
began fluttering against the bars like the Amauris domini-
canus of the other day, but with this difference that, whereas
that highly nauseous butterfly banged itself about everywhere
indiscriminately, the Hypolimnas, an insect that has to trust
far more to avoidance of enemies^ kept scrupulously to the
corner of the wire farthest away from the bird, and on my
})ushing it back thrice to the centre of the cage always
returned at once to that corner.

The Irrisor watched the butterfly intently at first, and once
made a move towards it, but hesitated and turned back
before reaching it, probably deterred by its Danaida-Wka
appearance. She then remained on her perch for quite
three or four minutes without takino- much further notice of
the butterfly. Finally, however, unable to resist the invita-
tion of its fluttering, she again edged up to it, but when
within two inches of it picked up a dead migratory locust
instead and ate it. She then again turned to examine the
butterfly. It was now at rest for a moment, and the bird
finally plucked up courage to take it by the thorax and to
give it two or three squeezes, evidently tasting it well.
Then came the change from hesitation to eagerness that I

4

50 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerlon on

have on various other occasions seen when a bird, expecting
the nauseous model, has found that he has the mimic instead.
The Hoopoe edged back rapidly with the insect in her bill to
her original end of the perch, placed it firmly between her
foot and the branch, levered off the two fore wings and then,
after running the remainder quickly and eagerly from side
to side a number of times to thoroughly soften it, swallowed
it with evident appreciation. I. looked out for some time after-
wards for bad after-effects, as in the case of D. chrysippus
of two days ago (Jan. 15), but there were done. The bird
remained exceedingly cheery.

The experiment was interesting for the light it threw on a
bird's mental processes. The suspicion of an invitation to
try an insect with an appearance associated in the enemy's
mind with unpleasantness, the temptation produced by the
prey's continued proximity, and perhaps by a realization
that it did not look quite the same as Danaida, the final
decision to try it, and the change thereafter from doubt to
joy were all most interesting.

510. Jan. 18. — The bird accepted a Papilio angolarms,
seizing it by the thorax, at once transferred it to her foot,
and proceeded to pick off the wings and eat the butterfly.
The method was that of an Owl or Shrike.

511. Jan. 20. — The bird had had a few larval locusts, but
was probably still fairly hungry. The following butterflies
were inserted, one at a time, alive. Two Fapilio lyams
(each seized, stripped partly of wings, and readily swallowed),
an Atella phalantha (unmolested for a time as it moved
about, finally seized and, after very thorough tasting,
swallowed, Eurytela hiarbas, two adult ant-lions {Formicaleo
leucospilus), and an Amauins lohengula. The Eurytela when
attacked at once dashed under the projecting edge of the
bird's food-dish and remained there motionless and out of
sioht. It was then that I offered the Atella, and when it
was eaten I reoffered the Eurytela, which, in spite of the
pulling out of the tray, continued to remain motionless in its
hiding-place. It was partly stripped of wings and readily
eaten. The ant-lions were eaten wings and all. The

Birds in Relation to their Pre>/. 51

Ajjiauris lohengula (blacky with white spots in fore wintr and
a large buff patch in the hind wino) fluttered violently
against the bars, greatly exciting the bird's curiosity. The
latter finally took advantage of a lull in its movements to
edge up to it and seize it by a wing, and, the wing holding,
as only the wing of a Danaine or Acreeine would have done,
to transfer it to her foot and pick it to pieces. The abdomen
was swallowed at once, the thorax dropped, but even this,
with one fore-wing attached, was also swallowed readily
enough on being reoffered.

" And then the troubles . . . ." Almost immediately after
swallowing the Aniauris the bird commenced to rub her bill
violently against the perch and the sides oE the cage, and
continued to do so frequently daring the next four or five
minutes. Then she held her head down and ejected a dark-
looking fluid followed by a small pellet compos'ed of the
abdomen and the thorax with a fore-wing. She strained
twice afterwards, bringing up more of the dark fluid.

Twenty minutes later I captured a Papilio dardanus,
female form cenea, and, removing the wings of one side to
prevent possibility of escape, placed it in the cage. Its
movements were sluggish, but the bird edged up to it almost
at once, and after a certain amount of hesitation (the result,
doubtless, of its resemblance to Amanris lohengula) took it.
She also showed a good deal of hesitation or suspicion while
tearing off the wings, and twice interrupted the operation
and ate a migratory locust. Finally, however, she did
complete the stripping, cut off" and ran the thorax through
her h\\\, doubtless tasting it well, artd then swallowed it
without further hesitation. Then with no hesitation or
tasting at all she just tossed up the abdomen with a small
portion of the thorax and a hind wing attached, caught it in
the back of her bill, and swallowed it too. I watched for
half an hour for bad results, but the bird brought nothing
up and was particularly lively and cheery all the time. She
is a great deal less timid since she lost her companion«.

I then offered an Amauris ochlea, a Danaine with strongly
contrasted black and white i)attern and a gaseous smell that

4*

52 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on

always seems to me a little more pungent and ready for use
than the same smell in the black-and-6i/^Amaurises. I may
say that Amauris generally is not a genus that Irrisor would
be likely to meet with much in its hunting-grounds round
Chirinda — they are, in the main, forest-insects. At any rate,
the Hoopoe attacked this one at once with the greatest
eagerness, and after two or three failures succeeded in
seizing it by the thorax, but at once threw it down again
disabled. During the next few minutes she again picked
the butterfly up three times, but each time, on tasting it, at
once threw it down again, her attitude being that of being
puzzled at not finding it good. Possibly she confused its
appearance with that of some pleasanter black-and-white
butterfly known to her. She then left it alone altogether
and proceeded to nibble at the bases of Papilio lyccus wings
lying in the cage.

An Acrcea caldarena (a small reddish species with black
wing-tips and the usual poppy-flavoured juice) was seized
without difficulty by the thorax, but at once dropped, the
bird retiring to the far end of the perch. Half an hour
later both the Acrcva and the Amauris were still uneaten, so
I placed both in a conspicuous position in the wire of the
cage and returned in an hour. The Amauris had now been
moved, showing further trial, but was otherwise intact, and
the Acrcea had been stripped of wings. Abdomen missing.
No pellet had been brought up.

I then offered a second live Acroia caldarena. The bird at
once seized it by the thorax, bit it two or three times, and
dropped it, retiring to the other end of the perch with a
disappointed air. A larva of the fine black and yellow
Swallow-tail, Papilio demodocns, so destructive to orange-
trees, had been offered shortly after the first Acrcea caldarena.
The bird at once seized it by the anal end and began to bang
it about. Transferring her hold to the other end she caused
the red filaments to be suddenly extruded with the usual
strong bay-leaf smell. She hesitated distinctly for two or
three seconds, evidently much struck, but then went on with

D'lnls i/i Relation to tJieir Prey. 53

the softening of the larva, finally swallowing it whole without
a sign of dislike.

I now left the second ^1. caldarena in the cage and kept
the bird unfed for three hours. At the end of that time the
abdomen had disappeared, but the thorax remained uneaten.

All the insects in this experiment were offered alive.

512. Jan. 21. — I placed alive in the cage :

(1) A Danaida chrysippns. It was at once seized, tasted,
and dropped, the bird retiring with a discomfited air to the
far end of the perch and taking no further notice of it.

(2) A PapiVio dardanus, ^ (large lemon-yellow Swallow-
tail with black marginal and submarginal bands). It was
caught after two or three attempts, taken to perch, trans-
ferred to claw, and picked to pieces and eaten with no show
of hesitation.

To avoid acceptances being the result of hunger, I inserted
larval locusts and allowed the bird to eat all it would. I
then inserted

(3) A Papilla demodocus. It was seized and tasted, the
hind wings were removed after much trouble, and the abdomen
with the small portion of the thorax that usually breaks off
with it was swallowed* The rest of the thorax with the
fore wings attached was dropped. Reoffered thrice, it was
each time simply taken in the point of the bill and dropped.
I removed the wings and reoffered the thorax. It v/as at
once softened up and swallowed. The bird had evidently
not been hungry enough to feel inclined to go to the trouble
of removing the strongly-attached wings.

Later. — B also escaped. These birds are expert lock-
pickers. They spend much of their time when caged in
probing into every crack in the woodwork, undoing the
fasteuino;s of the door throuo-h the crack between it and the
cage, or (having found, in looking for insects at the back,
they could do it) in levering the tray, if left unfastened, for-
ward— and open — by inserting their bills at the back of it
and using them as ordinary levers. I have seen them
working together at this, and they are certainly birds of
great intelligence.

54 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on

513. March 12. — Two Wood-Hoopoes were brought me
two days ago by a native who had taken them roosting
together in a hole in a tree. Both have the red bill, D the
long bill of a male, E the short bill of a female.

Each to-day persistently refused a Precis natalends, the
red wet-season form resembling Acram acara, with wings,
presumably suspecting it of being an Acro'a, but each tasted
and readily ate one without wings. Yet each accepted and
diswinged a Papilio demodocus. D ate his, E finally held
hers over to D, who broke off and ate the thorax, E then
eating the abdomen.

514. March 14. — D ate readily four Papilio Jyams in
succession. The third was dro]>ped through disinclination,
but eaten a few minutes later. The fourth was accidentally
drojiped, and the bird at once descended, picked it up, and
ate it.

515. March 16. — D ate readily three Papilio lya'ns, gave
a fourth to E, who was craning over for it with open mouth,
and ate the next three himself. E ate the eighth, then
descended and ate some heads and scraps of thorax that had
been dropped by D. All the insects were wingless. The
birds had fed well just before the experiment, so it is likely
that this Papilio (large, black, with a green-blue diagonal
stripe) ranks fairly high in their estimation.

516. March 2<6. — In each case one wing was left attached
to the butterfly to facilitate the birds' recognition of it. D
ate two Catop)silia Jlorella, threw down a third, evidently
difiinclined for more of it, but ate it when reoffered, and
dropped a fourth and fifth. E readily ate them. D ate a
P. lyanis, but refused the next (eaten readily by Coracias
garrulus). A little later D ate three white C.jiorella, but
accepted a yellow female with a good deal of suspicion,
probably reminded of the, to most birds, far more unaccept-
able Pierine, Terias senegalevsis. He had barely, after much
trouble, removed the wing when E took the butterfly from
him and ate it. D took, but at once threw down, a second
yellow f'.male. E picketl it up and ate it after much trouble
in removino; the winci.

Birth In Relation to their Prey. 55

517. March 29. — D ate readily five Precis cehrene and at
once threw away a dead one. Illustrates necessity for care
in providing the right material for experiment !

518. March 30. — Each ate readily a Chara.res hmitus (large,
heavy-bodied, fruit-eating butterfly) after the usual softening.
D took three more from the forceps, but dropped each. E
picked them up and ate them, as also a fourth, with evident
relish. D accepted the next, went to much trouble in
softening it, and then presented it to E, who ate it after
further mastication. D found room for the next himself,
refused a migratory locust, but accepted another C. hrutus,
softened it up very thoroughly, and ended by separating the
thorax from the abdomen. He deliberately passed the
abdomen up to E (on a perch above him), and, when E had
finished eating it, leaned over, picked up the thorax now
lying on the ground some distance away, and handed this
too to E, who ate it readily. The next was also taken by D,
but ungratei'ully snatched from her almost at once by E,and
by her eaten, after the usual softening.

I handed a Papilio lyccus to E. "Wliile she was hesitating
D came up, snatched it away, and ate it, also a second. I
offered four more direct to E, but D intercepted each (E
holding back with her bill straight up in the air out of fear
or deference). Instead of eating them D leaned over each
time and dropped the butterfly on the floor, all on the same
spot. When he saw that I had no more to offer he at once
descended and battering each in turn ate it. Only now,
when D had definitely finished, did E descend and get a
thorax or two that had been broken off' and left.

This assertion of authority by D (for that was what I
could not but take it for) was A'ery interesting, coming as it
did on the top of an impudent snatching away of a butterfly
from him by E. E's change of attitude to one of respect
followed the snatching away from her of the Papilio lyceus
by D, or perhaps was indicated in her hesitation over its
acceptance. Possibly some anger was shown in D^s manner
that was unnoticed by E, but escaped myself. Tiie calm
placing of each butterfly on the floor, whence E might easily

56 Mr. C. F. M. Swynuertou on

have taken them, seemed to be as much as to say " Don't
dare to touch those ! " and E accepted the rebuke in a
properly deferential spirit.

D then ate a seventh Papilio lycens (I doubt i£ he would
have eaten any, had it not been for E's provocation of him !),
also a Precis cehrene. He dropped the next and E picked it
up and ate it, as also six more in quick succession, without
further repression by D.

519. April 3. — E ate readily (hnd much other food in the
cage) four male and one female HypoUmnas misippvs. Ten
minutes later she ate with equal readiness a fifth male and a
second female. Each butterfly had a hind wing attached.
The ten minutes' interval was to give time for unpleasant
internal effects, if any, to be realized by the bird. Obviously
the butterfly ranked fairly high in the Hoopoe's estimalion,
which is interesting in view of its close mimicry of the highly
unpleasant Danaida chrysippiis.

These birds also escaped. They were as expert lock-
pickers as their predecessors. In the case of each of the
two batches the birds did not fly away at once, but remaine<l
in the verandah picking up the insects that had dropped
from the cages generally (for I had many insectivorous birds),
and were quite friendly, allowing an approach to within a
yard. It was only on my definitely attempting to recapture
them that they flew right away, uttering their harsh chattering
note.

LOPHOCEROS LEUCOMELAS (Licht.).

The interesting point about these birds was the enormous
numbers that they would eat of insects, one or two of which
sufficed to nauseate the average bird unless he was sufiicientlv
hungry, and his digestion sufficiently active to deal with
them.

Two factors probably contributed to this : (I) that Lopho-
ceros, like Bucorax, probably is able to eat Danaida, Amaiiris,
Acroia, &c., up to a later point in the filling up of its stomach
than is the average bird ; (2) the fact (which I will deal
with more fully later) that any rapidly-digesting bird is able

IJinh in Relation to their Prey. 57

to 00 on eating any insect, however unpleasant, with a pause
between (it may be) every two or three or more, provided
no pleasanter food is forthcoming to carry the satisfaction
of his hunger well beyond the point at which the unpleasant
insect in question is normally refused. Actually these
Yellow-billed Hornbills did, on several occasions, if one
might judge by their discomfited manner, carry their eating
of nauseons insects beyond safety-point ; but this was only
to be expected in the case of just-fledged birds deprived of
parental guidance. And in any case they probably never
ate them to at all near real repletion-point. The key to a
proper understanding of all these experiments on L. leucom&Ias
is provided by experiment 541 on L. melanolennis (below).

520. Feb. 16. — Two fully-fledged nestlings now able to
fly and picking up food for themselves. I have had them a
few days. I offered the extraordinarily conspicuous gre-
garious larva of (probably) a (Cuspidate moth. Brilliant
red-black-and-white, with a pungent smell and two yellow
filaments, which are waved when the larva is alarmed or
annoyed, and are brought over — with a strong increase in
smell — to touch the aggressor when the larva is seized, it
had been offered to my Kingfisher {Halcyon cyanolencus) and
been treated by him as he only treats the vilest of objects.
He had, on trying it, dashed it violently to the other side of
the cage and remained for long afterwards "shaking his
head, clapping his bill, rubbing the latter against the j)erch,
and showing generally greater signs of disgust than I had
ever previously seen him exhibit.'^

Lophoceros B pulled at the larva, and would have eaten it
had I allowed her. I then let A pull at it well and, finally,
swallow it. I offered a second larva immediately afterwards,
and he tugged at it greedily, and would have eaten it too (as
would B) had I allowed.

I let ten minutes elapse for after-effects. Then I again
offered A the second larva. His manner had quite changed.
He rejected it with absolute fury, raising his crest and
hissing at me every time the larva was produced, and draw-
ing back from it, still angry and hissing, when I pressed it

58 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on

on him. B, however, not having had his experience of it,
seized it and tugged at it, and was greatly annoyed because
I would not allow her to have it.

The first larva had lost some of its virulent smell by the
time it reached the Hornbills, but the second was fresh and
would, nevertheless, at first have been greedily eaten by both
birds.

Evidently they are not particular as to taste. Evidently,
too, the larva relies primarily on its appeal to the bird's
internal anatomy. Other interesting points were A's pro-
fiting from his experience, his recognition of the larva, seen
again, by (doubtless) its appearance, both birds' lack of
instinctive knowledge of what was fit to eat, and B's failure
to profit by A's example.

521. Feb. 17. — A snatched and swallowed in turn the
following butterflies with wings attached : Acrtea acara,
Amauris alhimaculata, Acrcea natalica. I noticed now that
there was no food in the cage, so in case the acceptances
should be due to hunger I gave the birds a good feed of
locusts, then (to A) an Acrcea anemosa, three A. acara, and
three A. natalica. He swallowed recklessly at first, then
with growing hesitation, and on my now offering yet another
A. acara, he just took it in his bill and rejected it, as also a
wingless Charaxes hrutus. He now became extremely rest-
less and apparently perturbed, wandering and finally rushing
from perch to perch, clinging by his feet to the wire — a
thing he has never done yet, — and banging his wings violently
against it, seizing his companion by the long feathers of the
occiput and shaking her violently to and fro, all the time
with what seemed a look of terror. This went on for ten
minutes or more, w^hen he gradually quieted down again,
and finally took up his usual position at one end of a perch.
I now offered him an Acrcea natalica.

He refused it absolutely without tasting. He at once ate
the wingless Charaxes hrutus reoffered. And he again for a
time refused the Acrcea natalica, but on my continuing to
persist he finally snatched first the abdomen, then the thorax.

Birds in Relation fo tlieir Prey. 59

violently from the forceps and swallowed them. No further
bad results were visible.

Meantime, B was oreatly annoyed at not being given any
Acrpeas. She did actually .<t»u<ff/( two (^1. acara) and swallow
them, but without visible after-effects. She then ate two
wingless Chara.ves hrutiis and one wingless C. candiope.

T have little doubt that A overstepped the safety-point,
whether this be high or low for these Acrfeas relatively to
these birds.

522. Feb. 19. — Twelve large Acrpeas (nafalica, acara,
aneoiosa, and areca), of both sexes, were eaten by the Horn-
bills. No apparent after-effects. The last seven were offered
as I came across them in sorting out the day's catch, so that
there was a probable average lapse of several minutes between
each — enough to spoil an experiment on a rapidly-digesting
bird.

523. Feb. 21. — I gave A after a number of locusts five
Acrwa acara (two males, three females), fifteen minutes later
two male A. natalica, and five minutes later again a male
A. areca. All (with wings) were snapped up and eaten with
avidity. No hesitation and no visible after-effects.

524. Feb. 24. — A ate greedily and without visible after-
effects a gravid female A. acara and two male .1. natalica.

525. Feb. 25. — A ate in succession, as usual alive and with
wings, a female Acra'a areca, two male ^4. natalica, and a
female .4. acara, just refused by the Roller [C. garrulus) and
Kingfisher {H. cyanoleucus). No visible dislike or after-
effects.

526. Feb. 27. — A ate, alive and with wings, five male
A. 7tatalica and one male A. areca — eleven laro-e Acrreas in
all — with avidity.

Twenty minutes later, v/ith equal avidity, a male ^1.
natalica and a female A. ccnemosa.

Fi\e minutes later a male and a female A. natalica, the
latter with marked hesitation.

Five minutes later again a male A. acara and an A.
anemosa, the first readily, the second with some little hesita-
tion. Then, with increasing hesitation, a female and a male

GO Mr. C. F. M. Swynuertoii on

A. natalica. A female A. natalica was then twice taken in
a very hesitating and gingerly fashion between the points of
the mandibles and let drop. Reoffered again repeatedly, it
was refused every time without tasting. A larval migratory
locust was taken with comparative readiness, but the bird
gave me the impression of considerable uneasiness, and he
now refused the female A. natalica, reoffered, repeatedly
and persistently.

He was now huddled against the side of the cage with
feathers ruffled and an air of depression — the result, I could
not help thinking, of having slightly overstepped the safety-
limit in the matter of eating Aerseas. All had been very
much alive when offered, the majority caught within the
preceding hour or two, and the bird's bill was well bespattered
with their abundant yellow juice. Nineteen had been eaten
in all, but the intervals, which, often repeated, might enable
him to go on eating such insects indefinitely, have to be
taken into consideration.

527. Feb. 28. — As usual, live butterflies with wings. Both
birds had previously had some locusts.

A ate a male A. areca.

An interval : then 7 A. natalica in succession (2>S S i
2 9 9 , and 2with sex not noted).

A five minutes' interval, then ^ ^ A. acara.

A ten minutes' interval, then a female A. natalica (that
refused yesterday). Then an unsettled five minutes, pro-
bably only in sympathy with B. Then the Amauris lohen-
gula handed him by B {y. below). Then, after another short
interval, a ? ^. natalica and a (^ JL. areca.

In the afternoon (again after other food) he ate an
Amauris alhimaculata (snatched from B), and a few minutes
later two Acrcea acara, all readily.

B, in the morning, ate 7 A. alhimaculata in succession,
was very unsettled and restless during a short interval, then
ate an Amauris lohengula (of similar appearance) readily
enough, a second and third less readily, a fourth more
readily^ a fifth after hesitation and a preliminary rejection.
She rejected a sixth, and on my reoffering it took it and did

S'lrds in Relation to their Prey. 61

her best to palm it off on A, following his movements and
keeping it held round to his bill. A, apparently not under-
standing snob unwonted attention, twisted and dodged and
did his best to escape her, but she persisted and at last
"cornered" him. Either perceiving for the first time that
he was being offered food or else to get rid of her impor-
tunity, he now snatched the Amcmris away and swallowed it
after some difficulty with the wings, B meantime sat quite
still beside him on the perch looking innocently away, but
took an occasional sly glance round. A's ready acceptance
may have reassured her, or else she may have been by now
ready once more for Amauris, for, after a few minutes'
interval, she readily seized a seventh. It was dropped, but
perhaps accidentally, for on my reoffering it she ate it at
once.

I then offered Amauris ocJilea (the smaller of our black
and white species). The first was eaten after considerable
hesitation, the second rejected — thrown right away, — yet
eaten on being reoflfered. The third and fourth were eaten
only after a great deal of reoffering and persuasion on my
part.

Now came some interesting contrasted rejections and
acceptances, the latter showing that the former were not
due to sheer repletion. She tasted and refused an Amauris
alhimaculata, and thereafter refused it emphatically and per-
sistently without tasting; but she readily ate a larval
migratory locust. She again persistently refused the A.
alhimaculata, but readily ate another migratory locust. She
refused the Amauris emphatically yet again, but very readily
ate another butterfly^ the Nymphaline Precis cebrene. She
refused the Amauris yet again and repeatedly, yet readily
ate another Precis cebrene.

In the afternoon I reoffered the same ^1. alhimaculata (an
easily recognised individual owing to peculiar wing-damage).
The bird took it in the point of her bill, but made no attempt
to eat it, simply holding it there for some minutes, though A
made repeated attempts to take it from her. Finally, he
succeeded, and ate it. B then, stimulated perhaps by A's

62 Mr. C. F. M. Swymiertou on

having taken the first, ate with apparent avidity an A.
lohengula and 3 A. albimacidata. Fifteen minutes later she
readily ate two A, lohemjula in succession.

528. March 2. — B ate greedily an Amauris albimaculata.
Twenty minutes later she ate similarly 4 Amauris oclilea in
succession, but held an A. lohengula for a long time in the
point of her bill without an attempt to swallow it. She
ended bv handing it down to A, who swallowed it greedily.
Perhaps reassured by this she accepted an A. albimaculata
(same type of colouring) and swallowed it at once.

Twenty minutes later she persistently refused without

tasting another ^1. albimaculata, but greedily snatched a

$ Acraa natalica from the forceps, and at once swallowed it.

A meantime ate the A. lobenyula given him by B, then
ten A. natalica (5 c? (J and 5 ? ? ) in succession, and, at
intervals of two or three miuutes,[2 ? and 1 ^ A. acara and
a ? J., areca.

I let twenty minutes elapse to allows for possible after-
effects from this large dose to make themselves felt, then
offered ^ ,$ A. areca (much the same colouring as the pre-
ceding butterflies). The bird at first refused it absolutely,
then, on my persisting in holding it to him, just closed the
point of his bill on it and at once, looking at myself, let go.
It is a common form of refusal amongst birds. He then
refused to take an Amauris albimaculata which I had been
offering B and, persistently, an Acrcea natalica $ .

Fifteen minutes later, either recovering from the effects
or, if there were none, merely ready once more to digest
Acrseas, he ate readily enough after a little initial hesitation
an Acrcea natalica ? . B again refused without tasting an
Amauris lobengula.

An hour and a half later A accepted and ate readily a ?
Acrcea natalica, and B, as readily, an Amauris lobengula.

Two hours later again A ate no less than 23 large Acrreas,
all greedily and without the least sign of hesitation. They
were : 5 A. natalica ; ten minutes later five more ; ten later
five more ; ten later again 2 more. Twenty minutes later
again '6 (S A. acara, and ten later 2 S and 1 ^ A. areca.

Birds ill Relation to their Prey. 63

Comment. It is evident that, starting hungry enough'
these birds can go on eating the most nauseous butterflies
indefinitelj and with apparent relish, provided intervals
without pleasauter food are interspersed to keep them hungry
enough, or to bring them back to that point when they have,
by eating several, been brought up against the safety-limit.
Not that in the case of these particular birds the hunger that
will enable them to digest such insects need be great !

529. March 4. — Plalf an hour before the experiment I fed
each bird on larval migratory locusts till it refused to eat
more. The idea was to pit Amauris against large Acrajas,
and to see oE which most would be eaten, and the locust-food
was to equalize the start. A to be given the Acrteas, B the
others.

A ate readily 12 u.lcnca natalica with a 15-minutes' interval
after the 7th, and two more with hesitation ; an Amauris
atbimaculata readily, and, again after hesitation, a fifteenth
Acrcea natalica.

B ate 4 Amauris loben<jula,iiud a fifth after hesitation, and
repeatedly refused a sixth without tasting, and with signs of
annoyance. But she greedily ate an Acrcea acara, though
she again repeatedly refused A. lohengula with what appeared
to be marked dislike.

Fifteen minutes later A again ate 7 A. natalica^ but with
hesitation at the sixth and seventh. He repeatedly refused,
without tasting it, an eighth.

B however refused absolutely to touch even one A.lohengula,
though I reofEered it repeatedly. But she greedily ate an
Acraa esehria (a small black-and-white species) and an
Acraa acara, but again repeatedly refused A. lohengida.

Thereupon, to test whether she would be deceived by
resemblances in her prey, I offered her a mimic of A. lohen-
gula— namely, Acrcea johnstoni form confusa, with the upper,
mimetic, surface shown. The Hornbill at first ignored it
absolutely, as she had done its model, but, on my continuing
to hold it to her, she at last began to examine it closely
and cautiously, and then, taking it in the point of her
bill held it there for some time, turning it over and over

64 Mr. C. F. M. Swynuertou on

and over, and tasting it most thoroughly. She finally
swallowed it.

Having done so (and been presumably reassured by doing
so) she accepted and swallowed an Amaiiris lohengula without
any farther hftsitation. But she refused the next icitli anyer
repeatedly.

A, however, leaned over eventually and took it, eating it
promptly, but he emphatically and repeatedly refused an
Acraa natalica.

This, however, was greedily eaten by B, who then once
more refused an Amauris lohengula.

Comment. B had enough of Amauris long before A had
enough of Acrcea. Secondly, when she was refusing Amauris
she still ate Acrcea, and when A was refusing Acrcea he still
ate Amauris. This may have been due (1) to insufficient
experience of Acrcea by B and Amauris by A, or (2), more
probably, to the fact that their protective properties are
different, so that when to eat another Acrcea (on the top of
several others) would constitute an overdose, the eating then
of an Aynauris would not.

A third interesting point was the treatment of a mimic —
at first evidently taken for its model, then examined more
carefully and tried. Probably some of the actual points of
difference (size and fore-wing spots) were noted, for birds
are very observant.

530. March 5. — I exchanged the roles to-day, A becoming
the Amauris-eater and B the receiver of Acrreas. This was
as a control on the last experiment — to test individual
difference between the birds.

A ate readily an Acrcea natalica, then 7 Amaurises (4
lohengula and 3 alhimacnlatd) with hesitation at the sixth
and seventh. B at the same time ate with avidity 7 Acrcea
natalica.

15 minutes later A ate 7 A. albimaculata with hesitation
at the sixth and seventh ; B ate 7 more A. natalica, all with
avidity.

15 minutes later again A ate 4 A. alhimaculata, but with
marked hesitation, requiring a great deal of persuasion to

Birds in Relation to their Prey. 65

eat the third and fourth ; he turned his back and remained
most of the time with it turned, refusing to look round. A
fifth (he had now turned round) he refused with auger
repeatedly, though he readily ate an Acrcm areca ^ .

B, on the other hand, ate greedily 3 Acrcea natalica, 3 A.
areca and 3 A. acara, and seemed quite prepared to go on
eatino-.

Comment. I think the experiments of March 3rd and 5th
taken together indicate that Amauris is unpleasanter to these
birds than Acrcea. The fact that A ate so many of the former
genus before commencing to refuse them is likely to have
been in part the result of his relative inexperience of it.

As in the other experiment, both birds had been fed up on
locusts half an hour before.

531. March 10. — Both birds were fed on migratory
locusts till they would accept no more. Soon afterwards I
gave A two Amauris ocldea with only one wing (right h.w.)
attached, ile ate two, the second with some hesitation, a
third after five minutes, and refused a fourth with unmis-
takable annoyance repeatedly.

B ate two Danaida chrysippus, and five minutes later
refused a third repeatedly, with signs of annoyance (again
only one wing).

To reassure the birds I gave them Catopsilias. A ale his,
first breaking it up well and making quite an efl^ort to get
rid of the stitf wings. Acrseas and Danaines, with more
pliable wings than this Pierine, are swallowed whole. But
B^s Catopsilia escaped, and A at once set off in chase of it'
He seized it time after time by the wings as it was fluttering
about the cage, and each time at once threw it up in his
usual fashion in order to catch it in the back of his throat —
a feat at which he is very skilful. But each time the bill
clapped to, and to the bird's sitrprise, nothing reached his
throat — and the butterfly, more active to escape than the
species he was used to, was fluttering at the other end of
the cage ! At last he succeeded in capturing and eating it
in the same manner as the first.

B now ate one, though with rather more suspicion than A;

5

66 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on

but she lost a second. A finally captured and ate this too,
after a long chase, in which B also finally joined. The latter
bird (B) then occupied herself for some minutes in picking
up all the small pieces of white wing which now littered the
bottom of the cage, and in carefully handing them back to
A, w^ho threw each back to catch it in his throat, and seemed
much disappointed and surprised when, instead of arriving
there, it went floating off on the breeze.

A fifteen -minutes' interval, then A ate 5 Amaurises (one

A. ochlea, the rest A. lohengvla), the last three with marked
hesitation, and absohitely refused a sixth. B ate a D.
cJirt/sippns, but refused to touch a second. Five minutes
later, however, she snatched three in succession from the
forceps and bolted them down quickly, and just afterwards
two more.

A half-hour interval (without food). A now absolutely
refused to touch an Amavris alhimacnlata, but ate ^ Danaida.

B, after hesitation, snatched and ate — again with apparent
impatience and anger, however — two Danaida. On my
return immediately afterwards with an Amavris she was on
the floor of the cage devouring earth, and she refused the
A)naiiris.

She now ascended to one of the higher perches, and re-
peatedly again refused the Ammiris^ finall}^ taking it in the
point of her bill (Did she remember its mimic of March 4?),
tasting it well, and dropping it. A at once most gallantly
descended^ picked it up in his bill, and climbed up again
with it to B, placing it in her bill. She could no longer
refuse a dainty so courteously offered, and swallowed it at
once — again like a pill, however ! — and a second in like
manner.

A now ate two dead Amauris alUmandata. tastinir each
very thoroughly in the point of his bill before doing so. I bad
no more live Danaines, so discontinued the experiment.

532. March 15. — I fed both birds on locusts till they
would accept no more. Soon afterwards B ate a Danaida
chrysippus, but rejected a second after nibbling it in the
point of her bill for some time. A ate readily 5 Danaida

Birds in Relation to their Prey, 67

and \n five minutes two more, but refused the eighth without
tastino- — readily, however, eating Amauris ochlea. He then
wiped his bill and refused to eat another Amauris.

B now ate an A, albimaculata, but refused a second, at
first without tasting. She then took it in the point of her
bill and occupied herself for several minutes in trying to
force it into that of A, Finally, she dropped it.

Eoth birds now persistently refused Z^anaeV/^ and A matir is,
but each after tasting them well ate two Acrwa naialica.

533. March 16. — A ate 5 Danaida and was quite ready
to go on. B ate 5 Amauris albimaculata^ but refused the
sixth with some show of irritation. A at once ate 5 more
Danaida chri/sippus, and was again quite prepared to go on.
B angrily refused Amauris albimaculata.

10 minutes later A readily ate 5 Danaidas. B ate 5
A. albimaculata, but took the sixth with hesitation, and for
a long time tried to push it into A's throat — evidently for an
opinion, as she kept a tight grip on it, ready to pull it away
at once had he given any sign of approval. Finally, as he
would not take it, she dropped it*.

A now more hesitatingly than before ate 4 Danaida in
succession, but absolutely refused the fifth — eagerly, however,
snatching at an Amauris albimaculata, B hesitatingly took
the latter in her bill, but made no attempt to eat it, tryino-
instead again to force it into A's bill, but, as before, tiohtenino-
her hold on it whenever he seemed disposed to take it.
Though so eager for it before, he now, on the whole, resisted
lier, sus})icious of such marked and persistent attention or,
more likely, realizing that she would not let him have it.

10 minutes later A ate 4 Danaida, but refused to touch a
fifth, while B refused irritably the Amauris albimaculata.
A, however, readily ate an Amauris lobengula, but B angrily
refused a Danaida.

15 minutes later A ate readily 4 Danaida, but steadily

* This method of obtaining an opinion is, as I have seen, practised by-
other birds besides llorubills, so that the suggestion is not entirely
far-ietched.

5*

68 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on

refused a fifth, though quite enger to take an Amavris.
B absolutely refused both Amauris and Tkinaida, but

10 minutes later ate readily 3 A. albimaetdata, refusing a
fourth ; while A ate 2 Danaida, and persistently refused a
third, though still eager for Amauris.

10 minutes later A ate readily 8 Danaidas, but refused the
ninth. B ate readily 4 Amauris albimacidata, then snatched
away and ate two Danaidas in succession that I was offering
A, and after this two more Amauris albimacidata, but re-
fused the next.

15 minutes later A ate 3 Danaida and refused a fourth.
B absolutely refused A. alhimandafa .

10 minutes later B still persisted in refusing that butterfly,
but A ate readily 7 Danaida and refused the eighth, B now
again refusing the Amauris.

10 minutes later A ate one Danaida, but absolutely refused
a second. B refused A. albimacidata, but readily ate a
Danaida and wanted more, snatching persistently at the
one I now offered A. A ate one more Danaida after hesi-
tation, but persistently refused a second.

10 minutes later — it was now in any case commencing to
get dark — both birds refused both butterflies.

The last Danaida eaten was dead, the remainder having
been alive. A showed no ill-effects now or later from having
eaten 50 Danaida chrysippiis in little over two hours^ nor
did B from her 19 Amauris albimacidata, eaten during the
first hour and fifty minutes of that time. They digest rapidly,
and this, with the frequent intervals, enables them thus to
eat large numbers of relatively indigestible insects without
much overstepping the safety-limit.

Analysis. A ate 10 Danaida and was ready to go on, and
10 minutes later ate 9 more, but then at last refused the
twentieth. But 10 minutes later he ate 4 more, refusing
the next, 15 minutes later 4 more again, refusing the next,
and after this only 2, refusing the third. However, 10
minutes after this partial rest he ate no less than 9, refusing
a tenth. These had some more lasting effect, for 15 minutes
later again he could only eat 3 — only a temporarj- effect

Birds in Relation to tJieir Prey. G9

even then, however, for in another 10 minutes he succeeded
in eating no less than 7 in succession. But 10 minutes later
he could only easily manage one, and with difficulty and
after some persuasion a second. His refusals 10 minutes
later may have been influenced by the fact that he was then
beginning to settle down for the night.

B, however, at the commencement of the experiment could
eat only 5 Amauris and then showed temper, and though she
did, 10 minutes later, eat 5 more, she now for about 50
minutes would not touch another (or Danaida), missing
entirely two sets of offerings. Now, however, she succeeded
in eating, 3 and 10 minutes later, no less than 6 ; but this
sufficed, and throughout the remainder of the experiment —
quite an hour — she refused to touch another, though towards
the end she readily ate Danaida.

B's digestion is evidently more sensitive than A's, so that
the " control '' experiment of the other day was worth while.
Also, in spite of A's readiness to accept Amauris to-day when
to have had another Danaida would apparently have been
too much, it seems not unlikely, comparing this experiment
with past ones, that Danaida is perhaps somewhat more
easily digested by these birds than Ama^iris, Still, starting
hungrier than previously, they might easily eat more Danaida
now than they could Amauris then, even were the two insects
equal in defensive powers, so that there is no certainty
about it.

534. March 17. — Neither bird appeared the worse this
morning for yesterday's extraordinary feed, and A, to cele-
brate St. Patrick, was quite willing to- begin again. He ate
readily 7 Danaida, and was eager for more, also an A. albi-
maculata. B absolutely refused the Amauris, but seeing A
eat it accepted and swallowed one herself. But she obsti-
nately refused to take a second. Danaida, however, she ate
greed il}' — 7 in succession, the seventh with some hesitation.
She refused an eighth.

10 minutes later B refused both Amauris and Danaida
without tasting, but A ate both readily. Each bird now ate

70 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on

Acrcea acara, biat only after much hesitation and tasting.
B, reassured, ate a second more eagerly.

The experiment seemed to confirm certain previous con-
clusions— that B is more sensitive than A, and that the order
of " preference '^ is : (1) Acrcea, (2) Danaida, (3) Amauris.

535. July 11. — Loplioceros leucomelas (not specified
whether A or B, but the former was, I think, at this time
the survivor) readily accepted two larvae of Acrcea terpsichore
and ate them, the first after hesitation.

536. Sept. 9. — Ate, but with dislike, often holding them
in the point of his bill for some time before swallowing them,
5 larvae of Acrcea terpsichore.

LOPHOCKEOS MELANOLEUCUS (Licht.).

1911. 537. Jan. 14. — Two young birds, just feeding
themselves, show^ed the greatest eagerness to eat an Amphis-
bsenid, 2 ft. 2 inches long and nearly an inch thick. I
showed it to my birds generally, and the old birds showed
fright while the babies were fearless— an incident that sup-
ports the view that birds do not know by instinct, but
learn, to fear snakes.

Auir. 4, — Two Crowned Hornbills, both adults, were sent
to me this afternoon by David Odendaal*. One appears to
be damaged. Both very bashful, hiding their heads on the
ground in a corner or under their own breasts when
approached, with an appearance of maiden modesty that is
ludicrous in such ugly birds.

538. Aug, 7. — The damaged Hornbill is dead. The other
is doing well, and is readily accepting food from the forceps.
I carried out my first experiment on him this morning. It
was also the first occasion on which he has been offered
butterflies since his capture four days ago. I wished to
ascertain whether he was already accustomed to feeding on
them in the wild state.

I first fed him up well on Cape gooseberries (only eaten

* Mr. D. P. J. Odendaal, on wliose collection of eggs an article
appeared in this Journal in July 1911, pp. 1-20.

Birds in' Relation to their Prey. 71

at first when very hungry), meat (offered now for the first
time, and eaten readily and in quantity), and grasshoppers.
He had begun to show some slight disinclination over some
of these, but was still accepting greedily a species that is
also my drongo^s favourite when I commenced to offer
butterHies.

He showed a distinct previous acquaintance with the latter,
for he very readily accepted and ate a dark brown skipper
{^Baoris fatuellus), but refused for a time to have anything
at all to do with a female Acrcea areca, and on my with-
drawing and reoffering it once more refused it. As I per-
sisted in holding it to him, however, he finally took it,
crushed it slightly, and threw it away. He then refused to
touch an Amauris alhimavulafa or a vaoXe Mylotliris agathina
(a white Pierine with orange wing-bases and a strong scent),
but very readily accepted, crushed, and after holding it for
a few seconds (result of relative repletion ?) swallowed a
Painted Lady (Pyrameis cardui).

A little later he again refused the AcrcBa areca and
Amauris alhimaculata, as also a Mylothris yulei and a IMylo-
thris rueppelli, but tried to seize a Pseudacrcea lucretia var.
expansa. It would be interesting to know whether he
actually recognized it or perhaps associated it with the
commoner Neptis agatlia. The Pseudacra'a's "model,''
Amauris ochlea, has been absent from this locality for a very
long time. I withdrew it, requiring it for other experiments,
and offered the brown Satyrine Yptliima (near impura}.
This the Hornbill refused to touch, but he at once, and with
the greatest readiness, accepted and 'ate a Neptis saclava;
wished to take a Papilio lyams, but I reserved it; again
refused the Yptldma, but readily accepted and, after crush-
ing it well, swallowed a large brown-and-white skipper,
Rhopalocampta forestan. He then descended and })icked up,
tried, and threw away a dry lump of mingled earth, excre-
ment, &c., that was lying in a corner of the cage and had
probably caught his eye far above.

Towards evening a dense mist had blown up while I was
feeding the bird, and the light in the verandah was so bad

72 Mr. C. F. M. Swynuerton on

that I rather hesitated to experiment. However, I did so,
holding each insect in such a way that what light there was
might fall on it.

The Hornbill refused to have anything to do with a
Belenois severina or a Mylothr'is yulei, but readily accepted
and ate a Precis elgiva ; refused a Terias Jirigitta (small
yellow Pieriue) and a Mylothris yidei, and accepted with, I
thought, a little hesitation, an Yptldma near imjjura. He
was probably nearly hungry enough for it, but he rejected it.
He refused a second Ypthima, as also a Henotesia perspicua
(another brown Satyrine) ; seemed doubtful over a Crenis
boisduvali, underside shown, but on my pressing it on him
accepted, crushed, and swallowed it; again refused Mylothris
yulei, also Leptosia medusa (one " wood ^'-white); accepted a
dead and dry Leuceronia argia, c?, and after crushing it
threw it away — probably the result of its dryness ; refused
for a time a white Catopsilia jflorella, perhaps taking it to be
the dry Leuceronia reoffered, then tried it, and at once
crushed and swallowed it. Then, to my surprise, took a piece
out of the wing of a Danaida clirysippus, and followed this
up by taking the butterfly from the forceps ; but on tasting it
he at once flung it right aw^y. Refused to touch an Amauris
dominicanus or again the Leptosia; readily accepted a Precis
clelia, but in turning it to crush it lost it; readily ate a
Precis tugela and a brown skipper Plalylesclies montili;
refused the Leptosia and a Mylothris yulei; accepted and
swallowed the Guinea-fowl-spotted Nymphaline Ilamanumida
dcedalus and a Precis elgiva ; refused to touch the Belenois
severina or an Yptldma near impura; but readily accepted,
crushed, and ate a small yellow-and-brown skipper, Padraona
zeno, a Rhopalocampta foi'estan, a Pyrameis cardid (Painted
Lady), another small skipper, Gegenes hottentota, and the
Precis clelia reoffered. He leaned out to take the Mylothris
yuleiy hitherto refused^ but I withdrew it; then descended,
picked up, and again tried and threw away the dry male
Leuceronia argia.

The trial of the Danaida, and the bird^s apparent readiness
at the end to accept a Mylothris was curious, perhaps, for he

Birds in Relation to their Pre)/. 73

must, i£ lie knew any butterflies (and he showed that he
knew them well) have known Danaida, the commonest of
all. I myself put it down to the bad light, and thought it
extraordinary that the bird made as few mistakes as he did.
On the other hand, the attempt to talie the Mylotlivis may
have been intentional, and to be accounted for by the stimu-
lative effect that the eating of several, highly pleasant insects
(here three skippers, a Painted Lady, and a Precis) so often
exercises.

Comments. Assuming (us I thought was the case) that the
bird was nearly hungry enough for Ypthima, but not for the
butterflies refused just before it, we get from the experiment
the following rough order of preference : —

(1) Three species of Precis {ehjiva, tugela, and clelia) ;
Pyrameis cardui; Ilamanumida dcedalus; Pseudacrtea lucretia
(if recognized as itself) and JSeptis saclava, and probably
Crenis boisduvali; these amongst Nymphalines. Two Pierines
— Catopsilia florella and probably Lenceronia argia (^ . A
Papilio [P. lyceus). And five skippers (if the last of them was
not eaten merely through the stimulative effect of its pre-
decessors), namely, Baoris fatuellus, Platylesches moritili,
Padraona zeno, Rhopalocampta forestan, and Gegenes
hottentota.

(2) Ypthima near impura (probably) .

(3) Mylothris yulei, Belenois severina, and Terias hrigitta.
AVith (2) and (3) may be bracketed Acrcea areca, the two

Danaines Amaiiris albimaculata and Danaida chrysippns,
and the three Pierines, Mylothris agathina ,$ and M. rueppelli
and Nychitona medusa. Also (if recognised as itself, which
is doubtful) the small brown Satyrine Henotesia perspicaa.
Meat — preferred to (Jape gooseberies.

The whole of these " placings,'^ including that of the
Ypthima, are simply confirmatory of those obtained from
many other birds, and, in so far as they consisted of many
acceptances and refusals without tasting, show that the bird
was in the habit of attacking butterflies before he was
captured. This is really the most interesting result of the
experiment. The trial of the piece of earth was interestino-

74 Mr. C. F. M. Svvynnerton on

as showing lack of instinctive knowledoe of what is good
to eat.

539. Aug. 13. — Fifteen or twenty minutes after a meal —
perhaps not a very full one, for the bird seemed hungry.
He refused an Amauris dominicamis, but, on my pushing it
up against his bill, seized another and swallowed it with
what may have been irritation; refused a Danaida chrysippus,
then snatched it from the forceps, and threw it violently
down; treated a Mi/lothris rueppelli similarly, as also a Terias
hrigitta', but seized on a Precis clella with the utmost eager-
ness, and swallowed it. The contrast in manner was great.

54-0. Aug. 14. — Shortly after a small feed of gooseberries
and grasshoppers refused a Mylotlirls rueppelli, but, on my
bringing it up to his bill, seized it and threw it back into
his throat to swallow; but at once shook it up again (side to
side shaking) and rejected it. But he very readily accepted
and ate a Belenois severina.

541. Aug. 15. — Hungry. Ate five Cape gooseberries
{Physalis edulis), eight to the ounce, the last two with growing
disinclination, and threw away and then persistently refused
a sixth. But he accepted, crushed, and without hesitation
swallowed a Danaida clirijsippus, an Amauris lobengula, a
male Acrcea areca, and a female Mi/lotliris agatluna; then
ate seven smallish pieces of meat (20 to the ounce), the
last with complete disinclination. He had thus eaten roughly
one ounce of fruit and meat together — the equivalent in
weight of many Danaidas — before commencing to refuse
Danaida. He now definitely did refuse one, but changing
his mind accepted, crushed, and swallowed it; more readily
accepted, crushed, and swallowed an Amauris dominicamis;
refused a second Danaida., but on my pressing it on him took
it, crushed it, and threw it away; accepted and readily ate,
after crushing it, an Amauris alhimaculata, again treated the
Danaida exactly as before, but readily accepted, crushed,
and swallowed an Acrcea terpsichore. He then took, but at
once threw away, a piece of meat, and refused to take the
next piece; accepted, crushed, and swallowed a dead and
slightlv dry D. clirtjsippus; rejected a live one after ci'ushing
it too; and crushed and threw away an A. dominicamis.

Birds in Relation to their Pre>j. 75

A few minutes later — a little hun'grier again, no doubt — lie
ate the D. elirysippus, and refused, then crushed and rejected
in turn, another Danaida and the A. dominicanus. But he
readily accepted, crushed, and ate an Amauris lohengula.

A few minutes later again he accepted and ate the Danaida ;
refused, then crushed and rejected the A. dominicanus; took
with disinclination, but, having done so, crushed and ate
another Danaida; once more refused, then accepted^ crushed*
and threw away the A, dominicanus ; but readily accepted,
crushed, and swallowed an Acrcea areca ? , and refused per-
sistently to touch a Cape gooseberry.

Shortly afterwards he once more refused the fruit, ate two
pieces of meat with disinclination, took with disinclination a
third and threw it away, refused the next piece, readily ate
several grasshoppers; refused for a time, but on my con-
tinuing to offer it took, crushed, and threw away the i'.
dominicanus', refused an A. alhimacidata, then crushed and
threw it away, but, changing his mind, picked it up again and
swallowed it. Showed some actual eagerness for a Mylotliris
agatldna ? , which, however, I withheld; and went on to pick
up from the ground and eat a number of grasshoppers, which
I now inserted to carry him to Mylothris-VQiw^mg point.

He next refused persistently to touch either a ? M. agathina
or a Mylotliris rueppelli. I even placed them on the ground
in front of him, and they began to move about freely, one
going so far as to climb up his leg, but, though he looked at
them more than once, he made no attempt to seize them.
Nevertheless, he accepted, crushed, and swallowed a Belenois
severina, showing that he preferred it to Mylotliris. A 2'erias
was now persistently refused, even when allowed to move
about with the two Mylotliris (movement often tempts attack),
and so for a time was an Ypthima near impura, but the bird
ended by crushing and rejecting the latter.

He then crushed and rejected the black-and-white day-
flying moth with tomato-leaf smell, Nyctemera leuconoe ;
refused for a few seconds a brown skipper, Farnara detecta,
perhaps reminded of Ypthima, but on accepting and crushing
it ate it without further hesitation and eagerly seized, crushed,

76 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on

and swallowed a Painted Lady [PijrameU cardin) — afterwards
refusing the light brown Satyrine Henotesia persplcna. But
he accepted, crushed, and swallowed a Papilio lyceus and a
skipper, Gegenes hottentota ; again refused the Henotesia
without tasting, but accepted and ate a second Gegenes.

The portion of the experiment just described had been
rather spoilt, and the progress of repletion accelerated, by
the fact that the bird kept noticing and eating grasshoppers
that he had previously overlooked; but he now definitely
flew up on to one of the higher perches and remained there.
He now accepted with disinclination, crushed, and dropped
a Papilio lyceus, did the same on my reoffering it, and the
same to a second, quite separate, one that I offered; but
readily accepted, crushed, and ate the brown guinea-fowl-
spottedNym[)haline/Za»ianMm?6Za dcedalus. Accepted a much-
rubbed and battered Neptis agatha, and threw it back into
his throat, but shook his head violently from side to side as
though to eject it when it was halfway down; but, failing,
swallowed it. Again crushed and rejected the second Papilio
lyceus, but readily ate a Pyrameis cai'dui, once more treated
the lyceus as before, but readily ate a Gegenes hottentota
and another Parnara, either detecta or mathias ; crushed
and rejected another skipper, Padraona zeno, but accepted
and ate a Gegenes; refused to accept another Parnara, and
for a time refused a Melanitis leda (great brown Satyrine
with leaf-like underside), then accepted, crushed, and ate it.
Refused, then crushed and rejected a Salamis parhassus
cethiops (a great bottle-green and mother-of-pearl Nympha-
line) ; accepted, crushed, and swallowed a Painted Lady and
a skipper, Andronynms neander; refused, then again crushed
well and rejected the /iSa/a7m'5; refused, then accepted, crushed,
and held a Hamanumida dcedalus. This he still continued to
hold four or five minutes later, and he refused to relinquish
it for either a Painted Lady, a common grasshopper with a
round black spot in the centre of each thigh (Catantops
mlphureus) , or one of the earth- like grasshoppers so liked
by the Drongo ; but, on returning ten or fifteen minutes
later, T found it on the ground. Evidently he was really
replete.

Birds in Relation to their Prey. 77

As with the Ground-Hornbills the tasting is clone in the
tip of the bill. Yet the tongue is very short, and when the
bird was crushing the Cape gooseberries, in the tip of the
of the bill, I noticed that the tongue's base remained pressed
tightly up against the roof of the bill, completely stop[)ing
the aperture to the throat. It was only lowered as the
gooseberry was thrown back into the throat.

Comments. Several degrees of preference were indicated
in this experiment : —

(1) Two Nymphalines [Pyrameis and Hamanumida)., three
skippers {Gegenes, Andronymus, and Parnara), and probably
a Satyrine, Melanitis leda, were preferred to

(2) Papilio lya'us and probably (to judge merely from
behaviour) the black and white Nympaline jyeptis agatlia ;
also to the yellow-and-brovvn skipper Padraona zeno and
probably to Salamis. The latter was refused very near
repletion-point. Belenois severina also preferred to

(3) Mylotliris agatluna, and this to

(4) The two Acrseas {A. areca and A. terpsiclwre) and the
two buff-patched species of Amatiris [A. albimaculata and
A. lobengida).

(5) Danaida chrysipjms.

(6) The great ro/iiVe-patched Amanris^ A. domiiiicanus,Vi\i\\
or slightly above

(7) Meat (kind not specified).

(8) Cape gooseberries.

Below P. lyceus and probably N. agatha would come
Mylothris rueppeUi and Nyctemera leuconoe, and with or
below them would also come Terias, Ypthima, and (if it was
recognised as itself, which is not certain) Henotesia.

This order is approximately that in which many other
species of birds, species that had to be very hungry to eat
even a single Danaine or Acrrea, placed these insects :
Lophoceros, like Biicorax, is just as finely discriminating as
they, once he has reached Danaida- and dominicanus-Yeius,mcf
point. But it takes more food to bring him to that point ;
and before reaching that point he is capable of eating with
apparent impunity immeuj^e numbers even of Danaines and

78 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on

Acrgeas. This is illustrated most strikingly in all my ex-
periments on young L. leucomelas^ and in the present experi-
ment adult and experienced L. melanolencus also only began
to refuse these butterflies when he had already eaten the
equivalent in weight of very many Danaidas.

This experiment is altogether of particular interest, for
the way in which it supplements and explains my earlier
and far less perfect, yet very striking, ex[)eriments on
Lophoceros leucomelas. To-day I did what I did not do to
leucomelas — I carried the filling of the bird's stomach well
beyond the point at which Danaidas, &c., are refused, and
so long as it was kept filled to beyond that point so long
would the bird have continued to refuse those low-grade
insects — it might be for hours or days together, excepting
after the bringing up of a pellet.

Conversely, so long as the fiUing-up process was not carried
and kept beyond that point by the presence of pleasanter
insects, so long would Danaida, &c., have been continuously,
wath short intervals for subsidence, been preyed upon.

542. Aug. 20. — Ate several PJii/saUs-hmts (7 or 8) and
refused to accept another; refused, then took and threw away
a ripe fruit of the tall Ebenaceous forest-tree, MaJ>a mualala.
Ate several pieces of meat (as the other day, the meat again
running about 20 pieces to the ounce), and refused the
next piece ; ate eagerly a few grasshoppers. Then refused
an Acrcea areca ? and an Amauris alhimaculata, but only a
minute or two later, already ready for them, took, crushed,
and swallowed both.

I have several times tried the bird with Mala fruit, and,
even when fairly hungry, he has- xef Jised to eat it. One has
lain uneaten in the cage all day, though Pliysalis fruits have
been eaten at intervals whenever the bird was hungry enough.
That wdien still hungrier he might have eaten the Maba fruit,
too, is suggested by the fact that I have occasionally found
these fruits in the stomachs of wild birds. This, again,
sugo-ests that we need not regard all things found in
the stomach of a wild bird as necessarily highly liked by
it. How do we know, in any particular instance in which

Binls in ReJation to tlieir Prey. 79

an object is not present in quantitj', that it was not eaten
under stress of hunger ? And even where it is present in
quantity, the performances of these Hornbills with rehition
to Datiaida, &c., show that we must still be cautious in our
deductions.

Ckateropus kirki.

5-43. May 29. — The Babbler captured the day before
3'esterday had to-day just eaten a small meal, but was pro-
bably still slightly hungry, when I offered him a Precis
cehrfi.ne and a Xeptis saclava. He accepted and ate each very
readily, crushing them before swallowing.

544. June 5. — May 29th's conditions and acceptances
exactly repeated.

545. June 14. — Hungry. Crushed and swallowed the
thorax of an Acrcea asema, but rejected the abdomen ; at once
rejected after tasting it an Acrcea aglaonice, pulled a wing-
less Panaida chrysippiis about for some time, and seemed
very doubtful about it, but finally abandoned it. He then
crushed and readily swallowed a male Mylothris agatldna.

My impression was that the Mylotliris (as its acceptance
actually showed) was preferred to other butterflies.

54(i. June 15. — Kept for a time without food, tasted and
at once Ye]eciQ(\ Acrcea terpsichore; battered and pulled about
for quite a long time a female Mi/lothris ogatldna, but finally
abandoned it; tasted and at once readily swallowed a Terias
hric/itta, a Precis celrene, and a Pyrameis cardui.

I then placed in the cage a number of grasshoppers of
various species. The bird attacked th^em, and when he had
returned apparently satisfied to his perch I offered another
Perias. This was tasted and rejected, but a Pyrameis cardui
eaten with evident relish.

Without doubt the order of preference was: (1) Pyrameis
cardvi (" Painted Lady "), (2) Terias hric/itta, (3) Mylotliris
agatldna (female), (4) Acrcea terpsichore.

547. June 19. — Very hungry, some time without food.
Tasted well and readily ate a Terias hrigiffa, and gave a
j)rolonged trial to a Mylotliris agatldna, pulling it about for

80 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton o;i

some time, but finally abandoned it, tasted and at once rejected
an Acrcca terpsicliore.

Again there was no doubt of the order of preference.

548. June 22. — The bird was busy eating grasshoppers,
which had just before been placed in the cage. I threw in
amongst them a Terms and an Ypthima near impura. The
first, a small bright yellow Pierine with feeble flight, was
throughout ignored, the latter (a small brown Satyrine, also
with feeble flight) was at once picked up, tasted, and re-
jected— and the Babbler proceeded with her feed. I then
inserted an Acrcea terpsicliore and a Danaida clirysippus.
The former (a small insect with the usual protective juice of
the Acrajas) was tasted and rejected, and the latter (a famous
model for mimicry) was simply ignored. The Babbler now
returned to her perch, satisfied, so far as small dull-
coloured grasshoppers were concerned, but she still accepted
and ate a Hamanumida dcedalus with evident appreciation;
refused without tasting one or two of the grasshoppers
definitely offered to her, also another Yyptldma; but accepted
and ate a Precis cehrene^ and ihen accepted and pulled about
for some seconds a Hamamimida dcedalus, but finally abandoned
it, evidently through repletion. She now refused without
tastino- a Charaxes neanthes, a Lampides hetica, and another
Hamanumida dcedalus.

The bird's liking for the two wary Nymphalines with
procryptic undersides as against the previously offered
butterflies, and as against even small dull grasshoppers, was
very evident.

549. June 23. — Tasted and rejected in turn an Acrcca
terpsicliore, a Mijlotliris rueppelli, a Mylothris yulei, and a
Nyctemera leuconoe. The first is a small Acrcea with brilliant
upper surface and protective juice, the next two are white
Pierines with orange wing-bases and a strong smell, the last
is a tomato-leaf-scented, black and white, day-flying moth.

550. Aug. 21. — Accepted and, with the greatest brisk-
ness, crushed and swallowed a large strongly-smelling (Weid
buo-, Holopterna alata. No sign of dislike was shown, but

Jjinh 171 Jxehilion to tlieir Pi'ci/- ^1

it3 exact " placing " is uncertain, as the state of the bird s
appetite was not definitely ascertained.

551. Sept. 28. — Had been feeding not long before on
termites and various Orthoptera. Tasted and battered well,
and finally rejected, a Terias regularis, a Miicalesis canijvna,
and a Ji'eptis agatha. It was likely that none of these were
liked better than the grasshoppers.

552. Sept. 30. — Had again been feeding, and had left
several h'gh-grade insects uneaten. She tasted and at once
rejected a Papilio angolanus, and picked up and pulled about
for quite a long time a Leuceronia thalussina, but finally
abandoned it. I removed its one wing and reoffered it, when
the bird snapped the thorax from the forceps, crushed and
ato it, then refused to have anything to do with the abdomen
or to taste a wingless Precis sesamus (black and blue dry-
season form of naiuleiisis). I think, she, perhaps, regretted
the eating of the Leucoronia's thorax.

553. Oct. 1. — I have already described this experiment in
full in a paper on " The Defences of G haraxes" road before
the Entonijlogical Society in May. Briefly, it amounted to
this. The Babbler chased with persistence, but lack of success,
owing to the breakage of the wings when seized, two of these
very powerful fruit-eating butterflies. Finally, in the case
of the second (a C. hriitus), " the bird darted out its foot as
the butterfiy glanced past close to the ground, and, seizing it
most skilfully in her claws, pinned it thereby to the ground,
at once [)ulled off its head, and lost no time in disabling it
further by pecking and pecking at the thorax with the
greatest vigour. The whole butterfly then received a great
pecking, battering, and crushing, but the Babbler, while it
considerably reduced the size, failed to remove the wings,
and finally abandoned the butterfly. I kept the bird for
some time without food, but, though it renewed its attacks on
the C/iarudX'S more than once, its attempts to eat it were
ineffectual."

From an entomological point of view, the experiment is
interesting as illustrating the defences in virtue of which
the larger Charaxes are so greatly mimicked by smaller

t;

82 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on

species. Ornithologically it is of interest as illustrating a
Babbler's methods and limitations.

554. Oct. 10. — I presented a snake — a nigbt-adder, ])ro-
bably Causus rhomheatus — before the cages of several of my
smaller birds in turn to test the attitude of old and young
towards it. " In every case the greatest alarm was at

once displayed The Crateropxis was the only partial

exception. She retired to her top perch, and there moved
backwards and forwards in an agitated manner tail well up,
legs at full length — at tip-toe, so to speak, — looking down all
the time at the snake."

555. Oct. 21. — Method of attacking a large beetle. I
placed a large beetle, Scarahoeus mgro-eeneiis, in the cage.
The Babbler, hungry, at once attacked it. She made no
attempt to hold or crush it, but, in accordance with her usual
method of attack, pounded it with great force with the
points of the mandibles held slightly apart. The result was
much the same as in the case of the Bulbul, for, nearly
every time it was struck, the beetle simply shot across the
cage, though the fact that the bill was somewhat open and
struck simultaneously in two places had a steadying effect
and sometimes prevented this. Once the lower mandible
penetrated some joint in the armour, and there was a little
diflficulty in extracting it. The Babbler went on for some
time with the attack, but gradually tired of it, and finally
abandoned the beetle. On my removing and examining the
latter, I could find no trace of injury anywhere. The beetle
had remained all the time passive, its legs tucked lightly into
their receiving-grooves, and even now, though placed out
for some time on the table, continued to remain absolutely
motionless.

I next gave the bird the dead millipede that the beetle
had been rolling. She seized it by the head as it lay on the
ground, and, by a sharp side-long twist of the bill, wrenched
this off. She then retirfed to an upper perch and remained
there motionless, holding the head in her bill for more than
half an hour without an attempt to eat it — perhaps waiting

Sirds in Helatlon to their Prey, 83

to be hungry enough to digest it. I have had many instances
of this.

556. Oct. 23. — Readily ate a Mycalesis campina (small
brown Satyrine butterfly), but tasted and rejected an Acrcea
natalica and the black-white-and-buff day-flying moth,
Aletis monteiroce ; readily ate another Mycalesis campina,
two small dull-coloured grasshoppers, and another Mycalesis.
She then pulled at, but only ate portions of, two more grass-
hoppers, and refused to touch any others, going on to reject
a Myc. campina, but to eat readily a Neptis saclava, a Heno-
tesia perspicua, another Neptis ; and, after it, her appetite
doubtless stimulated by these acceptances, the Mycalesis
previously rejected. She still refused grasshoppers, but ate
another Mycalesis ; again refused grasshoppers, but ate yet
another Mycalesis ; ate with relish twelve winged termites of
a small species and rejected repeatedly, after tasting them, a
Mycalesis campina and a Neptis saclava (wingless). She
showed an inclination, nevertheless, to eat a wingless Pyra-
meis cardui, returning to it several times, but finally left it,
apparently not caring for the trouble of preparing it. She
rejected it very promptly when slightly smeared with honey,
evidently suspecting the strange and strong taste, and
hurriedly ate some termites, as though to take the taste
away.

The order of preference was probably: (1) Termites, (2)
Pyrameis, (3) Neptis saclava and possibly Henotesia per-
spicua, (4) Mycalesis campina, (5) Acrcea natalica and Aletis
monteiroi. If so, it agrees with the order of preference
shown by all my various birds, except the few that transpose
Neptis and Mycalesis.

bbl. Nov. 15. — Very hungry ; accepted a Mylothris
yulei, battered the wings on the ground, and then, holding it
in its bill by the thorax, wings outward, literally combed the
latter with her foot, reducing them to shreds. She then ran
the butterfly through her bill and swallowed it. Given an
Aletis monteiroi (day-flying moth), she pulled it about a
little and abandoned it, but, returning to the attack, seized
the abdomen and removed it from the thorax by dint of

6*.

84 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on

battering the latter against a perch. She then threw the
abdomen away, however, wiped her bill vigorously against
the perch, and refused to have anything further to do with
any portion of the moth.

I considered that M. yulei was preferred to the moth,
though after a little more food the bird refused both and
also a Papilio angolanus.

558. Nov. 16. — The ant, Dori/lus (/erstaeckeri, is always
eaten by this bird, aj)parently with relish, whenever it
enters its cage. To-day I offered her both this species and
another common ant, Mt/rmiccuia e>imenoides, and each was
readily eaten. The bird then pulled a wingless Fapilio
angolanus about for a time and finally abandoned it, but
made a determined onslauoht on the large, vinegar-scented,
yellow and blue-black ichneumon, Ospri/nehotns flavipes,
which it would seize by a leg or a wing and rub on the
ground (with the "worrying" action of a dog thut has seized
a rat) until the limb came off. Finally, when the insect was
not only disembowelled but thoroughly "pulped" through
being battered and run through the mandibles, it was swal-
lowed with no sign of dislike — an insect that is placed as low
as Mylothris by others of my birds. The Babbler even went
on to pick up each severed leg and wing, and, after running
it through her bill and worrying it on the ground, swallowed
it, though the nourishment it contained must have been
nearly nil\ She then accepted a wingless white Pierine,
Catopsilia florella, and worried it for a time, but ended by
abandoning if,, transferred a wingless Catacroptera cloantha
(Nymphaline) to her foot and thence ate it piecemeal with
apparent relish ; refused, then just took in her bill and
dropped, the C. florella reoffered ; nibbled slightly in the
point of her bill and swallowe 1 with apparent relish a Heno-
tesia perspicua; pulled about and diswinged the Noctuid
moth, Sphingomorpha cldorea^ ate it with some aviditj^ ; then
with stimulated appetite turned to the previously-rejected
C. florella, now lying on the floor of the cage, and ate that,
too — once more, however, rejecting the P. angolamis. She
then ate readily two Pentatomid bugs, Bagrada hilaris,

Birds In Kelatioa to their Prey. 85

larva and imaoo, and, after a good deal of worrying, two
larvae of the common ladybird beetle, Epilachna hirta, so
destructive to potato-foliage. These larvae have a bitter
taste, and are intensely disliked by my other birds. She
then broke np, but ended by abandoning, an imago of the
same species, exuding the usual yellow juice, but persistently
refused to touch a second. However, after an immense
amount of persuasion, she took it and at once flung it away
with every sign of disgust. She then ate with apparent
relish a Mycalesis campina with all wings attached, and
accepted after much hesitation, but at once wiped off her
bill on to the perch, a larva of Epilaclina hirta. Probably
the first two had not agreed with her.

The liking of the Babbler fur ants disliked by some of my
birds requires no explanation, for Crateropus is an ant-eater.
Whether her so ready acceptance of the ichneumon and of
the Cocciuelid larvae is similarly due to specialization, or
whether she was rash in eating them, can only be cleared up
by further experiment.

559. Nov. 27. — Method of dealing with, and partial
defeat by, a hard slippery beetle. Hungry, as I had pur-
posely kept her without food for some time previously. On
my inserting the hard glossy Cetoniid beetle, Paclinoda
impressa, the Babbler turned it over on to its back and, with
her head drawn right back and neck well arched, struck
blow after blow at it with terrific force for so small a bird.
I noticed that on this occasion the mandibles were kept closed.
Often the beetle glanced away and the bird soon reverted
to her old trick of steadying it with one foot while she struck
the blow. Sometimes she would hold it in her claw and pull
at the underside of the abdomen, and often she would seize
it in her bill and bang or rub it on the ground. The insect's
slipperiness, however, defeated and disconcerted her on all
occasions. It was a considerable time before the chitin of
the abdomen broke. The bird then drew forth and ate such
of the contents as she could get at, and, after some more
ineffectual hammering on both surfaces, abandoned the
remains. On my re-offering it twice, she each time struck.

8G Mr, C. F. M. Swynnerton on

at it two or three times, but then definitely abandoned it
and took no notice of another (fresh) specimen that I then
offered; but she eagerly ate some grasshoppers.

560. Nov. 29. — Do birds know by inherited instinct what
is good for food ? On my placing a glossy, intensely hard,
large seed of the Ceara rubber-tree [Manihot glaziovii) in the
cage (which, by the way, still contained uneaten grasshoppers
and termites), the Babbler commenced to search about as
she always does after her tray has been pulled out and pushed
back again. Finding the seed after a few seconds, she sub-
jected it to a tremendous hammering. Occasionally she
\v'ould rub it in the earth, but more often she would steady it
as already described in connection with Oetoniidse, and launch
blow after blow at it with all her force. I watched for ten
minutes, and at the end of that time the bird was still con-
tinuing the attack with an occasional short interval for rest ;
and was, moreover, following the seed up with the greatest
zest each time it glanced away from a blow.

561. Dec. 28. — Accepted a large water-bug, Laccotrephes
ater, a most leathery and unpromising insect ; deposited it
on the ground and hammered at it with great force and per-
sistence, sometimes steadying it with her claw, sometimes
turning it over on to its other surface, but usually choosing
the lower surface for attack. At the end of ^ve minutes I
removed the bug. It was covered with small shiny marks
caused by the point of the Babbler's bill, but was actually
perforated in only one place — on the lower surface of the
abdomen. Both walking-legs on the left side were gone,
the bird having once or twice seized it by a leg and battered
it on the ground till that came off.

On my now reoffering the bug she at once renewed her
attack, and at the end of a further five minutes succeeded in
removing one of the elytra, after having already broken
off the two remaining walking-legs. She had repeatedly
attacked the claspers, but their attachment to the body must
be exceedingly strong, for she quite failed to loosen them —
a useful provision for an animal that uses them for capturing
prey that may sometimes be large and active. Finally,

Birds in Relation to their Prey. 87

finding that there was below the wings yet another skin as
tough as the first, the Babbler abandoned the insect entirely
and refused to accept it when re-offered. But she eagerly
attacked and ate some small grasshoppers which I placed in
the cage.

1910. 562. Jan. 9.— Method of dealing with a wasp.
The Babbler evidently realised that a large wasp, Dielis
bifasciata var. mansueta, was not a thing to be played with,
but showed the greatest energy and dexterity in dealing with
it. The method was that of Ft/cnonotns layardi, but far more
skilfully applied, and the pause after each attack was so
infinitesimal that the wasp was allowed no opportunity to
recover itself.

I first offered an insect from which I had removed both
wings on one side. The bird at once snatched it from the
forceps, threw it down, pounced on it, worried it on the
ground for a second with the greatest violence, let go, again
paused, worried and let go, and so on. Finally, the head
came off and was swallowed, after which the bird completely
changed her tactics and proceeded to break the insect up by
her usual methods, pounding the thorax with the sharp
points of her slightly separated mandibles, holding it down
with one foot while she dragged at it with her bill, and so
on. She finally ate the whole of it.

I now introduced a lively wasp with the full use of its
wings, in order to see whether it would not escape between
the attacks. Nothing of the kind. The bird never gave it
a second's leisure, but piled in attack after attack — each
short and crisp in itself — with lightning rapidity until the
insect was completely exhausted, when she once more
changed her tactics and proceeded to break it up and eat
it in the most leisurely fashion.

A wasp once brought to ground by such a bird would have
little chance of escape.

563. Jan. 9 (later in the day). — Disinclination for even dead
wasps when fuller. After a good feed of various grass-
hop{)ers, &c., she pulled about a little and abandoned in turn
a black wasp at present unidentified, a Papilio angolanuis

88 Mr. (\ F. M, Swjnnerton on

with and without wings (a small portion was the second
time eaten), and a Mycalesis camjyina, readily ate a beetle-
larva found in termite nests, pulled about and rejected the
3II0W and black-banded wasp (Dielis mansiieta), refused
ithoiit tasting, persistently, a " woolly-bear " cater]iil]ar
(probably j^r-iiid), the urticating hairs of which come out
easily, and then proceeded to make a great feed of small
worker-termites.

Each wasp in this experiment was killed, or practically
so, just before offering by the slight crushing of its thorax
with my forceps. The idea was to arrive at their /bor/- value
in the bird's estimation without the complicating factor
introduced by the presence of an active sting. They are
obviously not amongst the bird's favourites.

564. Jan. 11. Treatment of a millijiede. Hungry.
Readily ate a small blue-black Phytophagous beetle, common
now on the outskirts of the Chirinda Forest; pulled about
and abandoned a larger yellow and green one; readily ate,
after crushing it well, a second of the blue-black species ;
pulled about for a very long time, constantly rubbing it
against the perch to remove the yellow juice, an adult
" lady-bird " (^Epilachna hirta), and finally swallowed it ;
snatched the next from the forceps, but threw it away ;
battered and ate the beetle, Lagria villosa; tasled and
rejected the yellow and green species abandoned before, and
very readily ate an adult ant-lion (^Formicales hucospilus).
She then ate several grasshoppers, and, retiring to a perch,
went (literally) to sleep. I now placed a freshly captured
scarlet millipede {Spirololms sp.) close up to the bars in
front of her. About three seconds later the bird awoke
with a start, flinging herself back as the Shrike had done,
and retiring quickly to a back perch. She at once recovered
herself, howev^er, and, snatching the millipede from the
forceps, battered and rubbed it on the ground and perches
for sorae time, as though to make it exhaust its pungent
vapour. She even ate a small portion of it, but abandoned
the rest (now broken into three fragments), and refused to
touch it on my reoffering it. She then readily ate a Mi/ca-
lesis campina, showing she was hungry enough for that, and

Birds In R-Aatlon to their Prey. 89

at once each time threw away a Terias — this fixing her
state of appetite yet more exactly, but readily ate another
Mycalesh.

5()5. Jan. 12. — Given a hard weevil (nnidentified), the
Babbler made a most prolonged attempt, in her very be'.„
manner, to break it open ; but she made no inipi'ession on it,
and ended, after several minutes' liard work, in abandoning
it. Siie readily and easily ate another (softer) weevil.

506. Jan. 14. — hieadily ate a driver-ant ^^^?^o?n?Ha nigricans)',
crushed well and rejected the Coccinelid Alesia hidentata and
the pupa of a second " lady-})ird," Epilaclina chrysomelina (a
small portion of the latter was eaten and the rest abandoned);
ate another Anomma worker, and, after much pulling about
and rubbing on the ground, two larvse of E. chrysomelina',
tiied and rejected two imagines of the same genus [E. chry-
somelina and E. hirta); ate in the same way as before a
third larva of the former species ; tried and rejected the
Chrysomelid beetle, Exosoma himandata, and the two
" blister-beetles," Ceroctis exclamationis and Mylahris ocidata,
and readily ate a Myccdesis cccmjnncc.

567. Jan. 31. — Hungry. Battered for a time at the large
hard C/oprid beetle, Anachalcos spectahiJis, but, failing to
pierce it, abandoned it; pulled the large weevil, Brachycervs
congestus, in through the wires, struck at it once or twice
only, then, having evidently readily gauged its intense
hardness, far greater than that of its predecessor, at once
abandoned it.

568. Feb. 2. — Battered the metallic-coppery Buprestid
hee\\e , P siloptera cognata, vigorously- for a considerable time
with the point of her bill, but finally abandoned it without
having done more than break off a leg. This beetle is not a
very large one, but is protected by hardness, torpedo-shape,
and a glossiness that seems not to be nullified by the slight
lonoitudinal flutino;.

569. Feb. 7. — Attacked the large Cetoniid beetle, Neptu-
nides polychrous. Its sharp claws caught in the bird's lores
as she attempted to batter it, and she at once shook it free
with miudi show of annoyance and refused to return to the
attack.

90 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on

570. Feb. 9. — Do birds know by inherited instinct what
is good for food ? I inserted, amongst other food, into the
bird's tray three or four of the brilliant red seeds of Trichilia
chirimUca. The Babbler was attracted by them at once and
tasted one. She quickly abandoned it.

571. March 27. — Tasted and rejected the black gregarious
larva, three-quarters of an inch long, of a moth still uniden-
tified, and each time it was reoffered merely pulled it about
a bit, then abandoned it or else ignored it completely ;
battered well and ate without apparent dislike the young
green larva, one inch long, of a large Saturiniid moth,
Gonimhrasia sp. ; absolutely ignored the full-grown larva,
3^ inches long by three-quarters of an inch in diameter, of
a third moth, covered with branching spines; readily accepted,
crushed slightly, and swallowed a large driver-ant (^Anovima
nigricans) , and as readily ate a Papilio angolanus, a Belenois
mesentina, and a Terias hrigitta, the last two butterflies with
wings, the other with only one.

572. March 28. — Readily ate an ant (No. 31, not identified)
and a Belenois mesentina, but refused, then tasted and
rejected, a Phytophagous beetle (157).

Later, hungrier, she readily ate a large driver (^Anomma) ;
refused, then tasted and rejected, the black larva ; readily ate
the green larva of Gonimhrasia and the " blister-beetle,^'
Mylabris oculata; pulled at once or twice and abandoned a
large larva, just mutilated and abandoned by the Shrike ;
readily ate a Belenois mesentina ; tasted and rejected an
Acrcea caldarena without wings ; pulled about and readily
ate a wingless Danaida clirysippus ; ate a portion of a small,
sluggish, black fly (No. 19) much disliked bj' many animals,
but wiped off the rest of it on to the perch ; then readily
accepted and ate ant 31.

573. March 30. — Very hungry. Readily ate two hive-
bees, a Mylotliris yulei (after battering the wings), and, after
having broken them up in his usual manner by pounding,
two large hard Tenebrionid beetles {Amiantus glohulipennis}.
She then pulled about and battered a great deal an Acnea
caldarena, but ended hy abandoning it.

Blnh in Relation to their Prey. 91

574. April 10. — In most cases the insects in this experi-
ment were pulled about a good deal before being finally
swallowed or abandoned.

The bird tasted and rejected an Epilaclina, but ate a
Mylahris ontlata and a wingless Acraa natalica, rejected
an Acraa area ? and a second A. natalica, ate a " frog-
hopper," rejected a large grej^ millipede with almond
smell; readily ate four small bright orange-coloured centi-
pedes, but refused to touch any more, rejected a beetle with
protective fluid (not identified), but readily ate a Belenois
severina with wings.

Concluding Discussion.

We are perhaps inclined to take somewhat too much for
granted a bird's relations to its prey. We shoot, saj^ a
Puff-back Shrike and find in its stomach two wasps, the
fragments of a Coprid beetle, and a Precis butterfly. We
record the bare fact in our next paper, but otherwise think
no more about it. Yet it would be most interesting to
enquire whether the above insects represent its normal food
or were only eaten under temporary stress of hunger ; to
know just how that Puff-back Shrike went about to circum-
vent the stings of the wasps, to break up the hard cliitin of
the beetle, and to capture so wary a butterfly ; and whether
other species of birds do these things in the same way or by
other methods. It would be interesting, also, to notice that
neither the wasps, the Coprid, nor the butterfly were about
in large numbers, yet insects that were abundant were not
represented in the bird's stomach. Why ? And, if we
decide that there must be some repugnance to, or fear of, or
inability to catch or deal with, these more obvious insects, in
virtue of what limitations on the bird's part does it exist,
and how did the bird learn to avoid them ? And so on.

Methods of attack. — That some species of prey have special
defences that other species lack will hardly be denied, and
it is open to a bird to deal with them (1) by employino-
special methods of overcoming the defence in question, or
(2) by avoiding its possessor and exhibiting a preference

92 Mr. C^. F. M. Swynnerton on

for insects that are not thus defended. Actually, both
things are done, and in the majority of cases it will depend
on the bird's state of hunger which course will be chosen.
A bird that is nearer repletion will not trouble to break up
a dung-beetle or attack a wasp — however delightful it may
be to eat it, if someone else will do it for him! — will often
when a little hungrier attack with the greatest energy and
skill; and the methods of attack that different birds apply
to the different defences are of the greatest interest. Some
received illustration in the experiments I have described
above.

Take stings. The Babbler in experiment 562 showed
how completely helpless a powerful wasp may be against
even a weak-billed bird that has once got it on the ground.
Attack after attack was piled in, giving no time for recover}-;
yet each attack was crisp and brief, so that no opportunity
of using the sting was given. Bulbuls [Pycnonotus) attacked
similarly, as would, no doubt, any of the birds — as Tele-
2)honus — that habitually batter their prey on the ground, or,
being willing to attack wasps, are, nevertheless, too weak in
the bill to do so with any success aerially. Stronger and
longer billed birds attack the wasp they are hungry enough
for when and where they can get it, but seize by the thorax
and pinch as they seize. If the pinch fails — that is, if the
thorax is not at once crushed — they let go again, unless the
insect has so short a reach that they have nothing to fear
from the sting. If, on the other hand, the pinch succeeds,
the bird throws off all caution, at once either swallows the
prey or brings into operation his usual methods for reducing
any insect to an edible condition. I have already described
(Journals. A. O.U., Dec. 1913, p. 97) the quite similar methods
employed against a large snake by Ground-Hornbills — the
attacks directed exclusively at the head, the latter's imme-
diate release every time the " pinch " failed, and the
abandonment of caution directly the head crunched.

The Babbler's methods as against hardness and gloss were
in no degree less interesting. Exj)eriments 555, 559, 561,
565, 567, 568, and 573 all bear on this point, though the

JS'trds in l-ielation to their Prey. 93

full method is best illustrated in 559. The bird, " with head
drawn right back and neck well arched," would strike
" blow after blow with terrific force for so small a bird" at
the prostrate insect. It would steady it if necessary by
holding it firndy in one foot while it struck the blows, as a
man does sometimes to a stone he is shaping. It would
often, in the case of a slippery insect, strike with mandibles
somewhat open, and thus partly arrest the prey's tendency
to glance away. And it realized that the underside of the
abdomen was the most vulnerable spot, for it specially
turned the insect on to its back before commencing to
hammer. That the method was a highly effective one is
shown by the fact that the Babbler succeeded (559) in
breaking into and partly extracting the contents of a large
hard tlower -beetle that not only my Bulbuls, but a Roller
(^Coracias garrulus), failed to negotiate, and that my most
powerful batterer of all, a Kingfisher {Halcyon cyanoleucus),
took twenty minutes to make any impression on. My Shrike
{L. coUar'is liumeralis) experienced the very greatest difficulty
with one, but, finally, holding the beetle in one foot and
tearing at the underside of the abdomen with its bill, it
succeeded in doing just what the Babbler did: it extracted
the contents of the abdomen but failed with the thorax.
With the Coprid of experiment 555 the Babbler failed in
good company — the Roller, the Bulbul, and the Shrike.
The Kingfisher's " first five smashing blows " (the beetle
being held in its bill and struck against a branch) "produced,
I noticed, no result, but a few blows later the chitin of the
thorax cracked right across." As for- the weevils of experi-
ment 565, all the above birds failed with the harder species,
whether batterers, han)merers, crushers, or fearers, but a
Swempi {FrancoUnus coqui) just swallowed it. Even the
Swempi, however, had difficulty with a yet larger weevil
{Brac/iycerus conyestus of 5G7) owing to its holding its very
toughly attached legs straight out together instead of keeping
them tucked in like a dung-beetle. The Kingfisher, too,
succeeded only with the Anachalcos, and it was the King-
fisher alone that successfully dealt with the gloss and torj)edo-

94 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on

shape of the Buprestid beetle o£ experiment 568. But the
Babbler's methods were once more vindicated in experiment
573, when she broke up two Tenebrionid beetles of a species
that the Roller tried for a few seconds to crush " through
sheer bill-pressure," but, failing, threw away. The Shrike
failed, too.

Finally, the attack on the water-bug (experiment 561)
was most interesting, the Babbler's full methods as against
hardness being brought into play here as against leatheriness.
Its failure was again in good company. The Shrike failed
to damage the bug, the Roller " crushed it in every con-
ceivable position," and, the insect at once resuming its
former shape each time the pressure was relaxed and its
claspers seizing everything within reach and jerking it
repeatedly from the bird^s bill, " at last flung it away in a
rage." The Kingfisher swallowed it, but even his preliminary
battering had failed to open a way for the digestive fluids to
enter, and the bug was brought up in the next pellet quite
undigested.

The methods of attack I have dealt with include methods
of reduction (to an edible state). Some birds commonly
forego these preliminaries. A Francolin or Guinea-fowl
will swallow the hardest of prey — Brachycerus, for instance,
which I have taken from their crops — intact, and leave the
muscle of the latter to do the rest. Other birds, as King-
fishers and Rollers, quite roughly break up the chitin by
battering against a branch or crushing with the bill and then
swallow whole. Most Picarians, in my experience, swallow
whole, as do Swallows and a few other Passerines. Many
Passerines, on the other hand (and some Picarians), prepare
their food more thoroughly, " pulping " the parts eaten, and
going to some trouble to remove superfluous chitinous parts
that may be an obstacle to swallowing. Shrikes of the genus
Lanius, Paradise Flycatchers, Weavers, and Whydahs, and
numerous other birds hold the insect firmly in one foot, the
tarsus resting on the branch, and tear or lever off the
undesired parts (which commonly include the wings of
butterflies) with the point of the bill. My Wood-Hoopoes

Birds In Relation to their Prey. 95

were adepts at this {vide experiments 503 and 510). The
" batterers," on the other hand, which include Bulbids, some
Bush-Shrikes^ and a number of other birds, seize the part
tliey desire to remove and batter the insect against the
ground or a branch till the part comes off. The method is
well illustrated in experiment 558. The " combing '" of the
wings of a Mylotliris in experiment 557 is an unusual
operation. " Snipping," too, is rare. The Wood-Hoopoes
attempted it, sometimes unsuccessfully as regards the removal
of the wings, but successfully in removing an abdomen
from a thorax (experiment 503). Mr. G. A. K, Marshall,
however (Trans. Ent. Soc. 1909, p. 339), refers to the inter-
esting fact that certain Indian Bee-eaters "cut off" the
wings of butterflies, while African Bee-eaters swallow these
insects whole. Merops viridis and M. leschenaulti are
apparently the Indian species specially referred to, and
W. Davison (' Stray Feathers,' vi. 1878, p. G8) is quoted with
regard to the latter : — "• .... You hear a little click of the bill,
and as the bird flies off the pair of wings come slowly fluttering
to the ground.'-" It must be a very neat performance. The
wild Bee-eaters of my own observations (I have seen more
than a hundred attacks on butterflies by wild M. apiaster
and a few by M. persicns, Mel. Indlockoides, and M. meridto-
nalis) have always swallowed their prey whole, and my tame
European Bee-eater always did the same, merelv crushintr it
first. Lopliocerosoi these experiments (520-542) was also a
"swallower," but not quite a typical one; for, owino, I
suppose, to the length of its bill and the shortness of its
tongue, it had, in order to swallow, to throw the prey back
from the tip of its bill straight into its throat, and this trave
rise to the very amusing incidents of experiment 531. The
same applies to Bucorax, and I have already (' Ibis,' 1908
p. 407) described the very wasteful swallowing of figs in the
same way by Dycanistes.

One of the neatest actions that I have witnessed on the
part of a bird was the capture of the Charaxes by the
Babbler in experiment 553. It darted out its foot as the
butterfly glanced past, and, seizing it most skilfully in its

96 Mr. (I F. M. Swynnerton on

claws, pinned it thereby to the ground. The method is one
that is more likely to have been employed in the bird's wild
state in relation to grasshoppers and fast-running ground-
baetles than to butterflies. That the rather larger butterflies
are well protected against birds by their broad expanse o£
wing was well illustrated in what preceded the above capture.
That such tough butterflies as the largest species of Cliaraxes
are additionally well protected against such relatively weak
and small-billed birds as Crateropus was well shown by what
followed that capture, as also by difficulties of the same kind
experienced by my Bulbuls, Pycnonotus and Phyllastrephus.
The two points together tempt one to a brief discussion of the
attitude of birds to butterflies. That they do attack thom,
and that very largely, I am convinced through having
myself witnessed in the field many hundreds of attacks by
very various (and in some cases very unlikely) birds in a
single very circumscribed locality, and through having seen
damage of a kind that one sometimes finds in the wings of
nearly every high-grade butterfly being actually inflicted by
birds both wild and tame (for instances of the latter see
experiments 538 — wing-damage to Danakla — and 553). Mr.
Marshall, too, has collected and published (Trans. Ent. Soc,
Sept. iy09) about 600 records from various parts of the
world, including some of a very striking nature. At the
same time the pleasanter butterflies are possessed of great
wariness and a difficult flight, while the brittle wing ever
interposed between themselves and an enemy must frequently
provide the latter with disappointment. So that, as Mar-
shall long ago suggested, it is probable that the average small
bird not possessed of the extreme skill in aerial capture that
characterizes Bee-eaters, Swallows, Drougos, and some Fly-
catchers will probably make most of his attacks on butterflies
when he finds them resting, engaged in some absorbing-
occupation, passing quite close to his perch, or for some
other reason in or beside cover. This, and the fact that
butterflies go to ground and stay there when at all system-
atically attacked by birds, probably, with lack of special
observation, accounts for so few attacks on them being

Birds in Relation to their Prey. 97

ordinarily witnessed. The facts bearino; on the subject that
figured in the experiments described above were (1) the
really very excellent knowledge of his butterflies shown by
adult Lopkoceros melanoleucus on entering captivity (ex-
periment 538), the probable previous knowledge shown in
Irrisors initial treatment ot" the highly nauseous buttertlies
Danaida chri/sippus (in experiment 50G) and Acrcea acara
(in experiment 507), and that displayed by another bird
of the same species in experiment 513 ; (2) the evidence
touching the question, " Does the necessity for removing or
swallowing the stiff, strongly-attached wings act as a deter-
rent to attack on butterHies ?" On the strength of experiment
503 (on Irrisor) I decided that, " while wings hampered the
birds, they failed to deter." On the whole, however, a relatively
replete bird is, I think, slightly deterred, just as he does not
then care greatly to attack such beetles, wasps, and grass-
hoppers as tend to give him a little trouble. The treatment
of P. demodocus in experiment 512 supports this view.

The only method of search that was illustrated in the above
experiments consisted in the probing of all the cracks of
their cage by the Wood-Hoopoes with their long thin bills.
Many of the methods by which birds obtain their prey are
not readily capable of illustration by caged individuals.
Such are the extraordinarily minute search of bark and twigs
and leaves and ground by Warblers, Tits, Creepers, Fhylla-
strephus, and so many others of our small birds ; their trials
of inanimate objects, based doubtless on past experience of
twig-, bark-, and excrement-resembling larvae, leaf-resembling
butterflies, and lichen-like moths * {LopJioceros melanoleucus,
however, in experiment 538, tried a lump of mingled earth
and excrement) ; the great mixed hunting-parties, in which
birds of numerous and very diverse species join to " drive ''
the woodlands; the attendance on these parties of Drongos and
Flycatchers; attendance on driver-ants, on grass-fires,on flocks
of seed-eating birds, and even on man and monkeys, for what
they may flush ; the sharp sightthat enables Swallowsand Kites

* Both facts have a hearing' ou the argument that such resemWancos
constitute hyyertely.

7

98 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on

instantaneously to pick out from amongst masses of ashantl
unacceptable objects racing upwards in the smoke and wind of
a grass-fire just such insects as are acceptable to them; the
methods by which insectivorous birds circumvent winged and
wary prey — the furtive approach, culminating in a sudden
quiet nip, of a Telephoiius or a Dri/oscojnis guttatus, the
short, sharp attack on an insect flying past of the average
small bird, the longer-range attacks and bolder pursuits of
a Drongo or Paradise Flycatcher, the yet bolder and more
graceful work of Bee-eaters, Swallows, and Kites, the
headlong drop after an insect that falls, and the ensuing
search should it reach the ground, the flying wing-fragments,
the marvellous twistings and doublings, the empty bill-
snappings that characterize the headlong fall should the
insect be a butterfly, the mid-air struggle to hold a Cliaraxes
imperfectly caught, and the rush to the spot of the bird's
companions on his losing his exclusive right to the insect
through its escape from his bill. None of these things are
readily illustrated by birds in captivity, but all should be
mentioned in any discussion of the relations of birds to their
prey. The one thing that idcis illustrated above was the
normal response of a butterfly to attack. Eurytela hiarhas
in experiment 511 "took cover ^^ and stayed there, using
the projecting rim of a saucer as in nature it would have
used a leaf.

We have now, so to speak, discussed how our hypothetical
Puff-back Shrike slew his wasps, reduced his beetle, and
captured his very wary butterfly. We have yet to consider
why, out of vastly more abundant species that were present
at the time, he should have chosen to eat these three. We
have to discuss, in other words, his digestive limitations and
how he came to realize them.

The existence of nauseating qualities in certain prey was
well attested by certain incidents in the experiments on the
Wood-Hoopoes. A, the wisest of them, was over-persuaded
by myself and ate a Danaida and an Acr<xa acara. C fol-
lowed suit with a Danaida. B ate only the abdomen of a
Danaida. Even B became fairly miserable. The other two

Birds in Relation to their Prey. 99

were completely nauseated, and, after much straining,
vomited up all that they had eaten of the offending butter-
flies. This was in experiment 507. In 511 0 was similarly
nauseated by an Amauris. But many othsr butterflies were
eaten without the slightest apparent ill-efEects. Here we at
once have an opening for such preference as we suppose
our 8hrike to have shown. A similar contrast in after-
effects is to be found in every insect order, and a similar
inability to eat low-grade insects without nauseation beyond
a certain point in the process of repletion has been evinced
by ninnerous species of birds beside Wood-Hoopoes. Even
Loplioceros leucomelas A showed great uneasiness after having
eaten the brilliant strong-smelling moth-larva of experi-
ment 520, and refused another with anger ; and again
apparently somewhat overstepped the safety-limit in experi-
ment 521 and, probably, 526. These instances were in
relation to Acrcva. B did the same in relation to Amauris.
AVhether her eating of earth after her Danaidas of experi-
ment 531 indicated a similar condition it is not easy to say.

It is a curious fact^ nevertheless, that even those birds with
the smallest capacity for eating nauseous insects are able to
eat one or two with apparent impunity, and even eagerness,
when their stomachs are empty and appetite good. Thus
the average bird may quite readily eat Uanainffi or Acrasince
several times in the day — in the early morning or after some
other long interruption to feeding and after the ejection
of each pellet. As it fills up somewhat, it rejects such, very
low-grade prey, but eats other species, some of which, in
time, it finally rejects when slightly fuller, though still eating
the others. And so, through the successiA^e elimination of
many grades, right up to repletion-point. The main dif-
ference between Loplioceros (and Bucora.r) and the more
normal birds I have experimented on is that the Hornbills
are able to acce})t and digest such insects as Danaida and
Acr(ca in larger numbers and up to a far later stage in the
filling of their stomachs. Once, however, they reach the point
at which such insects become unacceptable, their preferences
follow the course of most other birds. First the Danainoe

100 Mr. C. F. M. Svvynnerton on

are discarded, then the AcrfenicT, then Mylotliris, then
Belenois, Terias, and some Lycfenids, then Mycalesis, Nejyiis,
a skipper or two, and various mimetic genera in Nymphalinae,
Pierince, and Lycsenidse, then Eurytela and Lenceronia, next
certain Papilios, and after them Precis, &c. Finally (if the
bird is capable of easily swallowing or reducing it), Chara.xes;
also some skippers. These would in most cases be eaten
nearly to repletion-point, but the average bird will still find
room for one or two such Noctuids as the Spliingomorplia of
the above experiments, while in birds that specialize in some
one order — as a Drongo in Diptera — several grades of that
order will often still intervene between the rejection of the
pleasantest insects of the remaining orders (including, it may
be, butterflies) and actual repletion-point.

As well as these more general "specialists" and birds —
such as Hornbills — that are indiscriminating up to (but
not beyond) a certain point, we have yet another
class — the specialists in some one family or subfamily of
highly nauseous insects. I believe that our common Bulbul
[Pycnonotus layardi) is to some extent specialized to digest
Danaines, the individuals on which I have best tested them
placing them as high as Mycalesis ; and it seems probable
that the Ashy Wood-Swallow of India {Artamiis fvscus) is
even further specialized in the same direction *. That this
specialization of the digestion in a particular direction (if I
am right in believing it to be present) has perhaps been ac-
companied by loss of power in another direction is suggested
by the fact that my Bulbuls, that placed Danainse thus rela-
tively high, placed Pierinse generally quite unusually low.
The transposition of these two groups constitutes the greatest
divergence from normal tastes that I have come across, but,
while the order I have indicated above is generally held to,
small differences of taste, small transpositions of contiguous

* There are probably few birds that are not specialists, and so indis-
criminating, in one direction or another. There would also seem to be
a gradation between the more usual birds which in most things dis-
criminate from the outset and those, like Lophoceros, which commence
late.

Birds in Belat'wn to their Prey. 101

insects, occur as between any two species of birds, and, for
that matter, any two individuals of the snme species.

It is interesting to note how the experiments described in
this paper bear on the above. Nauseation of Ii'risor by
J)anaina3 and Acrreinre eaten beyond their respective safety-
limits has already been I'eferred to. The quaint shaking up
again of a swallowed Alijlothris in experiment 540 by Loplio-
ceros melanoleiicKs, and the same bird^s attempted shaking
up again of the yet higher-grade butterfly, Neplis^ on another
occasion, are probably to be explained on the same lines :
each had been rashly eaten after its normal refusal-point had
been passed. I have had numerous other instances of insects
swallowed and brought up again at once, and it seems to me
that many liirds, at any rate, are often able to gauge an insect's
effect directly it approaches the glandular stomach, perhaps
through sensations arising from the stimulation and in-
hibition, respectively, of the digestive secretions *. In tliis
last point we have, I believe, the whole explanation of the
phenomena we have been considering. In my later and
more knowledgeable experiments I found myself able to
restore my animals' fading appetites, and to enable them to
eat with impunity prey that they were already refusing, by
giving them special dainties, and (in carnivorous animals) to
spoil their appetites and make them refuse what they would
otherwise have readily eaten by letting them see, smell, or
taste the equivalents of AcrcBa and Danaida when they were
by no means ravenous enough for them. It is probable, in
other words, that certain insects, eaten eagerly to repletion-
point, have the stimulative effect on a bird's digestive secre-
tions that roast beef and certain soups have on our own,
while others, such as the Danaina>, tend definitely to inhibit
the secretions, and can only be digested, or even retained,

* Applied to frugivorou3 birds, this, witli parental guidance, might
explain sufficiently their learning to avoid poisonous fruits without
being killed in the process. It is also no doubt perfectly true that
fewer fruits are highly poisonous to birds than to us. The fact
that birds are readily destroyed by powerful poisons concealed in foods
in which they have learned to place perfect conlidouce is no objection.

102 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on

witlionf. discomfort when these are in great strength rela-
tively to the amount of food contained in the stomach —
when even the Danainre may stimulate them. It is impossible
to go into the sul)ject more fully here. Suffice it to add that
just as the taste, smell, or even sight of certain foods that
we can eat with impunity may in themselves, by imconscions
association, be sufficient to promote a flow of the gastric
secretions and give us thereby a feeling of appetite and
eagerness, while the mere sight or smell of things that
disagree with ns produce a feeling of disinclination for them,
so, too, with birds, choice probably becomes, with experience
and practice, instinctive. A bird, seeing a well-known and
lately experienced Amauris when not in a position to eat it
with impunity, probably does not have to cast back in his
memory for his previous experiences of it, or to calculate
how full his stomach is. He merely feels disinclined for it.

One point, discussed at the end of experiment 541 and in
528, and illustrated abundantly throughout the experiments
on L. lei{comeIas (and in other experiments not described
here), is worth mentioning again. It is that a rapidly-
digesting bird is able to go on eating the most nauseous
insects indefinitely, with frequent short intervals for subsi-
dence, provided that no higher-grade insects are available to
carry the filling of its stomach well beyond the point at
which those nauseous insects are usually refused, and to keep
it there.

The actual preferences shown in these experiments may
be summarized as follows: — Irrisor preferred the Noctuid
moth Spiling omor pi la to the pleasantest Acridians and Locus-
tids, and these to larval migratory locusts. The locusts were,
in the first experiment, preferred to dead and drying butter-
flies, but the latter were far better relished in subsequent
expeiiments in which they were offered alive. In fact, in
experiment 502, there was an indication that a larval migra-
tory locust was, at any rate, not letter liked than Byhlia— vl
butterfly as low-graded as Keptis. Amongst the butterflies
themselves, Ilypolimnas, Hamanumida, Catopsilia, the three
Papilios — dardanus, demodocvs, and It/ceus — the larva of

Birds in Relation to their Prey. 103

P. demodocus and members o£ the genus Precis were probably
preferred not only to the genera that caused nauseation
{Danaida, Amauris, and Acrcea), but, with Belenois, to the
moth Olapa and the butterflies Mylothris, Terias, and
Papilio antjolanus. LopJioceros leucomelas showed an apparent
preference for a migratory locust and for Precis cehrene as
against Amauris albimaculata and A. ocJdcea, and for Acrse-
ina? as against Danaiuse. The preference for Banaida as
against Amauris was less certain, but very probable. Even
Uanainse, however, were probably liked far better — placed
higher — than the brilliant moth-larva of experiment 520,
and I thought at the time that greater repugnance was
shown for the larvse of Acrcea terpsichore in experiment 536
than had been shown for adult Acrgeinte and Danainse. If
so, it would be only in line with ni}^ results from other birds.
It was interesting that each bird could eat an Amauris or
else an Acrcea when it seemed to have had as much as it
could safely eat of the other. This seemed to indicate that
their protective qualities are very different. The difficulty ex-
perienced with Catopsilia fiorella'a stiff wings in experiment
531 as against the pliable, easily-swallowed wings of Banaida
was also interesting.

L. melanoleucus's preferences were ascertained a little more
fully. I was now learning to experiment better, and had
the advantage of dealing with a bird that was adult and full
of experience and formed opinions when captured. The
preferences seemed to be : — (1) Pi/rameis, Ilamamimida,
Melanitis, and the skippers Gegenes, Andronymus, and Par-
nara ; (2) Padraona, Salamis, Papilio ■ tyccus, and probably
Neptis — with (1) and (2) would be bracketed Precis spp.,
Catopsilia, P seudacrwa lucretia, if recognized, and probably
brown Crenis and Leuceronia aryia, also the skippers Baoris,
Platylesches, und Rliopalocampta ; (3) Ypthima (probabl});
(4) Belenois ; (5) MylotJiris — with (4) and (5) might be
bracketed Terias and Leptosia; (G) Acrwa acaray A. terpsi-
chore, and the two buflf-patched Amaurises ; (7) Banaida
cJtrysippus ; (^S) Amauris dominicanus ; (9) meat; (10) Cape
gooseberries ; (11) Maba mualala fruits. Head backwards,

104 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on

this list represents tlie order in which the objects comprising
it would be discarded as the bird filled up from emptiness to
repletion, or near it. Ten or eleven grades in all, and v/ith
further experimentation they would have been increased.

The Babbler's preferences, in so far as they were ascertained,
stood in the following order: — (1) Termites; (2j Pyrameis ;
(3) Neptis and possibly Ilenotesia ; (4) Mycalesis campina ;
Yptldma, and the pleasautest grasshoppers would come here
or in (3), and Hamanumida, Precis, the ants, and the moth-
larva3 in or above that grade ; (5) Terias ; Belenois and the
young green Saturniid larvse here or higher; {6) Mylothris;
(7) Aletis, Danaida, and Acnea — with (6) and (7) would be
bracketed the unpleasanter gregarious moth-larvse and some
of the Phytophagous beetles, and with (5), (6), and (7) the
millipede, Arctiid larva, wasps, blister-beetles, and pupal
and imaginal ladybirds. The Babbler was more inclined to
eat the latter, and especially their larvse, than any of the
other birds, seeming to get rid of much of the juice, and
with it presumably some of its objectionable qualities, by
much rubbing. Vigorous rubbing was also used to exhaust
the pungent but volatile defence of the millipede in experi-
ment 564. The moth Spiting omorplia was much liked,
Ospryncliotus (the ichneumon) was placed high (an unusual
occurrence), certain strong-smelling bugs were also placed
high (by no means so unusual), C. cloantha was preferred to
C.Jiorella and P . angolanus, and the second-named butterfly
probably to the third. The unusually high placing of the
ants, the ichneumon, and the Coccintdid larvse suggest that
Crateropus is perhaps a specialized bird, and that it would
have been of great interest to pursue its general preferences
further. The resemblance of its butterfly preferences to
those of Lophoceros melanoleucus is marked.

The preferences we have dealt with so far are the enforced
preferences of birds. These have to let pass an Acrcea or a
Coprid, let us say, because their digestion is insufficiently
vigorous to deal with the former or their strength to break
the latter. But there are two other kinds of preference —
the choice of the largest, and the turning of the whole atten-

Birth in I?eIation to tJieir Prey. 105

tion to the commonest, insect that they are at the time
hungry enouorh for. Absorption in the search or watch for
one particuhu' kind of insect is, I believe, fairl}'' frequent,
and it probably pays the bird ; it certainly accounts for a
number of the instances of neglect we witness. And the
selection of the largest insect present that the bird is hungry
enough to eat — resulting, it may be, in the taking of an
Amauris dominicanus in preference to the far higher-grade
but smaller Precis cehrene — is, as I have seen in both tame
birds and wild, the rule where the bird lias a choice and
troubles to make it.

It is interesting to inquire how birds come to know that
some Insects may be eaten with impunity at a given moment
and others not. Prof. Lloyd Morgan's experiments on young
birds are well known. He found no indication that they
possessed any inherited instinctive knowledge of what could
and could not be eaten. I have myself carried out a similar
series of experiments on some of our African birds — with
the same result. Even the experiments I have described
above contain some evidence bearing on the point, in the
trial of a lump of earth and excrement by the Crowned
Hornbill, its rejection after swallowing it of a Mijlothris, in
the actual nauseation of the Wood-Hoopoes by insects that
they had eaten, and, for that matter, in the continual rejec-
tions that took place after tasting (see, too, experiment 560).
I have, in all my experiments, come across no evidence of
visual instinctive recognition, but plenty of evidence to the
contrary. Whether rejection by taste is equally non-in-
stinctive is another matter. Watching a' bird going through
a long experiment, and noting the accuracy and relative lack
of hesitation with which he pronounces his decision on insect
after insect, by taste, one is almost convinced that the selection
is instinctive. Yet, in view of one's experience with very
young birds, and of such mistakes as those made by the
Wood-Hoopoes and (h'owned Hornbill, it is probably more
correct to say that, with practice, recognition of deeper
qualities by taste becomes instinctive, just as the playing of
the piano does, only far more easily.

8

106 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on

Two factors remain : parental education and personal
experience. The latter is certainly by far the most important
of the two, and we have seen in these experiments that birds
readily profit by experience. But that parental influence is
an important and long-lasting factor is suggested by the fact
that so many young birds continue to go about with their
parents almost up to the commencement of the next breeding-
season, and by the most interesting attempt at dissuasion
from eating a very low-grade insect by the older Irrisor in
experiment 506. Here the young bird must have been
nearly a year old. In this particular instance, the younger
bird did not allow itself to be persuaded quite at once, but
that birds do allow themselves to be influenced by the
acceptances and rejections of others I have many times seen.
It has happened with other birds, as it did with Loplioceros
above, when two birds have been caged together, that one
has gone so far as to offer an insect of which he was (one
supposes) doubtful to the other while keeping a tight hold
on it, and that he has swallowed it down himself if the other
wanted it and thrown it away if it ignored it. I had for
some time a hand-reared Hirnndo puella caged with a
captured //. rustica, and it was almost pathetic to see how
the former watched the latter and relied on its acceptances
and refusals.

The whole relations of old birds to young in the matter of
food is a most interesting question for study. I have myself
watched wild Bulbuls feeding their young, and I came to the
conclusion that there the old birds captured what they were
hungry enough for themselves. If the young bird refused
the offering (as it sometimes did, so early does a knowledge
of the qualities of prey and visual recognition of it com-
mence) it was taken back and eaten by the old bird.
Similarly, in experiment 502, Irrisor A gave CatopsUia and
locusts to C that he was hungry enough for himself, and
took back and ate what C did not want. Yet he deprived D
just afterwards of the greater dainty SpMngomorj^ha ! In
experiment 503, A gave C Precis arta.cia and natalensis that
he had been eagerly awaiting himself. But on C/s holding
the P. natalensis without eating it, " A again seized it with

Birds in Relation to their Prey. 107

apparent impatience at C's dallying, extracted it after a short
struggle from her grip, and swallowed it himself," and ate
the next two himself without troubling to offer them to her.
The experiment continued to be interesting along the same
lines. In the case of the second lot of Hoopoes, D and E,
the relationship was probably not that of a parent and child,
but matrimonial, and each gave to the other. The male,
however, was the chief giver, and he was certainly a most
generous and painstaking husband until his wife snatched.
Then he gave her a most comical but effective lesson in
discipline and mannei-s (experiment 518).

It is impossible to carry out a long series of food-experi-
ments without deciding that bird-language is really a very
adequate instrument of communication, and that human
beings talk too much. Nothing could have been clearer
than the rebuke administered in experiment 518 and the fact
that Irrisor E accepted it in a duly chastened spirit. Ag:iin,
nothing could have been clearer and more unmistakable than
A's actions in attempting to dissuade C from eating the
Danaida in experiment 506, or than the actions of both birds
in announcing to me their unwillingness to accept the last
Danaida in experiment 507. Bill-wiping is a very wide-
spread signal of dislike and refusal — not that it is used for
this alone, for the bill often has to be merely cleaned. The
light closing of its tip on the object offered, followed by an
immediate withdrawal (in experiment 507), is also a common
mode of refusal. My Owl (Si/rnium), in refusing thus,
would indulge in what I could only call "apologetic
nibbling," her bill sometimes not even closing on the object
" nibbled.'^ Turning the back is a last and most emphatic
form of refusal, and used to be indulged in by my Roller;
it occurred in experiment 530. Anger was vividly expressed
in experiment 520, probable request for information in expe-
riments 527, 532, and 533, and gallantry to the opposite sex
(or was it practical joking?) in 531. Eagerness has also its
special signs— uised, as I have seen, even by wild birds
in soliciting prey captured by a companion — and so has
disappointment. Even thanks was expressed in the bowing
of the Hoopoes. Add the expressions of affection that are

8*

108 Birds ill Relation to their Prey.

so frequently exchanged by birds, the actions of the male in
courtship and of both sexes in the training of the young, the
warnings against enemies and the threats and reminders to
the same, and the signals by which birds keep in touch with
one another, and we have a language that for all practical
purposes is tolerably complete.

Behaviour in face of a snake (experiments 537 and 554)
— not that an Amphisbsenid is a snake ! — the close study
of the appearance of a rejected Amauris by Irrisor in
508, and the deception of birds by resemblances in their
prey (experiments 507, 509, 511 (perhaps), and 529), are, I
think, almost the only remaining points to which I need call
attention. The last point has been illustrated in numerous
other experiments, and, taken together and in due relation
to the fact that the same appearance is often brought about
in unrelated prey by utterly different pigments, they suggest
that birds see colours very much as we do. That some
species are very blind, and others sharp-sighted, in relation
to motionless objects (all depending on their general habits),
I had, I think, little or no evidence in these experiments, but
much in others. Both this fact and the above-mentioned
study of the Amauris have an interesting bearing on the
question of hypertely. Of the other senses of birds, smell
only is worth referring to here. The ridiculously short
tongue of Lophoceros and other hornbills, and the fact that
they, nevertheless, base their acceptances and refusals on
tastings performed with the very tip of the long bill, sug-
gests that we have here a case analogous to smelling rather
than true tasting. I have seen short-billed birds, on the
other hand, bring the tips of their tongues into actual con-
tact with the objects tested. That even these birds appreciate
odours — though they do not, like mammals, use them for re-
cognition— is shown by the behaviour of Crateropus in experi-
ment 564 (a very extreme case, of course) and by the fact
that my Swallows showed discomfort when strong-smelling
insects (such as the moth Xantliospilopteryx) were brought at
all close to them.

Journ. S. Afr. Orn. Union, Vol. XI. PI. I.

[To face Tp. 109.

w

W

z

w

z

o

o

w

Occasional ^^otes. 109

VII. — Occasional Ji^otes.

1. Hearty congratulations to Mr. C. G. Davies, M.B.O.U.,
on his promotion from Sergeant 1st S.A.M.R. to Lieutenant
3rJ S.A.M.R. — a promotion, we feel sure, ho well deserved.

Mr. Davies, we believe, is as good a soldier as he is
naturalist and artist. An interesting letter from his pen
is printed herein.

2. Curious Form of Blue-breasted Waxbill.

Last week I procured, between a lot of ordinary Blue-
breasted Waxbills ( Uvcejinthus angolensis), an example with
red cheeks or " ear-coverts," similar to those of U. bengalus,
but nothing like so large as those of the northern species.
The bird, unfortunately, died, and upon dissection proved to
be a male. F. E. 0. Moers.

De Kroou, P.O. Brits. Transvaal,
August -ith, 1915.

3. The following letter was written to the Editors from
Usikos^ G.S.W.A., under date June 13th, 1915: —

" As one approaches this place, the country improves in
appearance — a good deal of bush and more mountainous
in character — and is of great interest to a naturalist.

" We are camped here in a dry sandy bed, with numbers
of fine shady trees (camel thorns) about, and bird-life is
common and all new to me. Big game is numerous, and
the burghers have been having a good time amongst kudu,
gemsbuck, zebra, &c.

"Near Walvis Bay I first saw the Yellow-nosed Albatross,
and sea-birds of all kinds were common. The only land-
bird I saw was Coi'vus scapulatus, but I picked up the
remains of a Button-Quail, w'hich must have lost its way.

" At this place I noted the Black Crow, Bulbuls, Sparrows,

110 Occasional Xofes.

Glossy Starlings, Weavers, a Hornbill, the Grey Lourie, two
species of Wood-Hoopoe, a Barbet, a Woodpecker, a Ground-
Thrush, a Wren-Warbler, an Eri/tliTopygia, two Chats, a
Drongo, a Guinea-Fowl, a Francolin, a Bush-Francolin,
Eueppell's Korhaan (fairly plentiful) ; also a small Fly-
catcher.

" I have not had time to shoot any for identification, but
hope to do so later on. Yours sincerely,

C. G. Davies,
3rd S.A.M.li."

4. Distribution of Francolin in the O.F.S.

Roughly speaking, a line can be drawn north and south
through Thaba Nchu.

North-east of this line, you find no Francolin except
F. africanus right away through to Harrismith ; yet, just
south-west of the line afore-mentioned (south-west of Thaba
Nchu), I have shot F. africanus and F. garispensis on the
same ground within a quarter of a mile of each other.
F. gariepensis is non-existent in East Thaba Nchu, Lady-
brand, Ficksburg, although the localities are quite suitable
for the species. Why is this? K. Cowper Johnson.

Westminster, O.F.S., Jan. 1st, 1915.

5. To the Editor, Journal of the S.A.O.U., Pretoria.

I am enclosing herewith a photograph for publication in
your ' Journal,' if you think it to be of sufficient interest.
When Mr. C. J. Swiersti'a and I were travelling from
Pietersburo- to Woodbush on the 11th December last, we
outspanned to rest the mules at a place about 12 miles
from the latter. Near the road is the kopje shown in the
photograph. In a stroll round this kopje we observed a
Heron (^Ardea melanocephalci) standing on the top of the
large Euphorbia indicated by an arrow. Mr. Swierstra
stayed down below, while I climbed up to investigate, and,
as I did so, the bird first walked across the top of the

Occasional jyofes. Ill

Eupliorbia and tlien took to flight, circling about overhead
for some time. I found that the Euphorbia contained about six
nests of this species, in one of which IcouUl, from above, clearly
make out about four green eggs. Later on, I found some
more nests on a Euphorbia on the left of the kopje, just out
of sight from where the photograph was taken. This nesting-
site is a novel one for the Black-necked Heron, and should
interest ornithologists, 'fhe Euphorbise are, of course, well
protected by thorny branches, and about 15 feet high, so
that it would have been a difficult matter to get at the nests;
in addition, this part of the kopje seemed also to be shunned
by the native herd-boys, probably on account of the matted
overgrowth of bushes and cacti, which would be an ideal
spot for poisonous snakes. The kopje itself is also typical
of those found in the vicinity of Pietersburg, and usually the
only places where sheltering vegetation is to be found. I
have to thank Mr. C. Swierstra for the photograph.

Transvaal Museum, Pretoria, AuSTIN ROBERTS.

February 3rd, 1915,

6. To tlie Hon. Secretary, S.A.O.U., Pretoria.

For the last week or ten days a pair of Cossypha cajfra
have been in attendance on a young Cuculus solitarius in the
vicinity of my office.

The call of the young bird resembles that of a young
C. caffra so closely that, until I saw it, I was under the
impression it was the natural offspring of the Robins.

Could you, or any of your readers, tell me whether this is
the natural call-note of the young Cuckoo, or is it part of the
" game of deception " to imitate the note of the young of its
foster-parents ? J. C. J. Knobel.

Tokai, P.O. Retreat,
December 3rd, 1914.

[The usual call of the adult C. solitarius is a loud " Piet-
myn-vrouw,^' whence its Dutch name. The call-notes of
young birds often vary considerably. — Edd.]

112 Occasional Notes.

7, The following appeared in the Union Gazette, under
date April 5th, 1915 :—

* No. 20 (Administrator's), 1915.]

PROCLAMATION

By the Honourable the Administrator of the
Province of Transvaal.

UjS'DER and by virtue of the powers vested in me and the
Executive Committee by sub-section (/) of section tliree of the
Game Preservation Ordinance 1905 as amended by the Game
Preservation Further Amendment Act 1909 and section eiglity-one
of the South Africa Act 1909 I do hereby prochaim, declare and
make known that the birds described in the Schedule hereto shall,
on account of their general utility be protected and not be hunted
or destroyed in all districts of the Transvaal Province as from the
date hereof.

Proclamation No. 14 (Administration) of 1910 shall be and is
hereby cancelled.

God Save the King.

Given under my Hand at Pretoria this Sixth day of April On e
Thousand Nine hundred and Fifteen.

JOHANN RISSIK,
Administrator of the Province of Transvaal.

SCHEDULE.
General Utility Birds and Locfst Destrotees.

English Common Dutch Common Scientific N^omen-

Nomenclature. H^omenclature. clature.

Stork, white-bellied Grote zwarte spriukhaan- Abdima abdimi.

vogel

Stork, white Grote witte spriukhaan- Ciconia cicouia.

vogcl

Starling, wattled Leispreeuw Perissornis carunculatus.

Egret, buff-backed Bosluisvogel Bubulcus ibis.

f'Roller, European Kleine trouwpand Coracias garrulus.

j (blue jay)

Roller, racquet- Breedstaart trouwpand ... Coracias spatulatus.
y ^ J tailed

^^'^1 Roller, Mosili- Trouwpand Coracias candatus.

katza's

I Roller, purple Grote trouwpand Coracias mozambicus.

(^Roller, cinnamon . . . Geelbek trouwpand Eury stomus afer.

All birds belonging to the families Oedicnemidae, Glareolidae,

Sho7't y^otices of Ornithological Publications. 113

and Charadridae of the order Limicolae, including the whole of the
plover species and in particular the following : —

English Common Dutch Common Scientific Nomen-

Nomenclature. Nomenclature. clature.

Pratincole, black-wiuged . Kleine spriukbaauvogel... Glaveola melaiioptera.

Pratincole, red-wiuged ... Roodvleugel sprinkliaan- Glareola fusca.
vogel

Dikkop or (o/*) Thicknee . Dikkop Oedicnemus capensis.

Water Dikkop Water dikkop Oedicnemus vermiculatus.

Bui'cliell's Courser Dravertje Cursorius rufus.

Two-banded Courser Dravertje Rliinoptilus africanus.

Crowned Lapwing Kiewit or (q/") Kiewitje..,. Stepbanibyx coronatus.

Blacksmitli Plover Boute kiewit Hoplopterus si^eciosus.

VIII. — SJiort Notices of Ornitliological Publications.

1. ' The Ibis ' : Quarterly Journal of Ornithology . July
and October, 1914 ; January, 1915.

This famous journal continues its valuable papers on
ornithology from the four quarters of the globe. In the
July number the only paper of general interest is one on
'' Some Species of the Genus Thalassogeron," by C. Salva-
dori. In the January number, Mr. C. H. B. Grant gives us
the first instalment of an account of a collection of birds
from British East Africa and Uganda, presented to the
British Museum by Capt. C. S. Cozens. This includes the
groups Struthiones to PelicaniformeSj and contains field-
notes by the collector, Mr. Willoughby P. Lowe. The paper
is illustrated by two plates (a map of the country and a
coloured plate of Francolinus hildebrandti altumi) and two
text-figures. The African Quail was collected on the 22nd
of September, the Harlequin-Quail on October 11th ; the
Kurrichane Button-Quail was obtained at Mt. Suswa on the
27th September. We notice the Red-eyed Cape Turtle-
Dove's generic name is altered to Streptopelia in this paper,
and the Senegal Dove to Stiymatopelia. The African Moor-
hen is elevated to a separate subspecies and called Gallinula
chloropus meridionalis Brehm., and is said to be smaller than
the European bird, and to possess a distinct blue colour on

114 Short Notices of Ornithological Picblications.

the wings. The Great Crested Grebe is likewise converted
into a separate subspecies and called Podiceps cristatus
infuscatus Salvad. The Treble-collared Sand-Plover is not
recognisable to us under its new outlandish generic name of
Afroxyechus. The Sacred Ibis is now called Thre^kiornis,
and the Wood-Ibis receives the generic name of Jbis. The
local Knob-bill Duck is relegated to a separate subspecies,
S. melanoti's africanus Eyton, being "always smaller than
specimens of the ty})ical form from Ceylon/' In the October
1914 and January 1915 numbers, Mr. David A. Bannerman
publishes two parts of the report on the birds collected by
the late Capt. Boyd Alexander, part 1 being on the birds of
Prince's Island and part 2 on those of St. Thomas Island.
Many mainland, and especially South African, forms are
mentioned.

2. ' The Avicidtural Magazine ' (3rd Series), Vol. vi.
Nos. 1-12.

The November 1914 number contains an interesting
article by R. A. Holden on the breeding in captivity of the
various members of the genus Ilgpltantornis.

" Cranes in Captivity" forms the subject of an interesting
paper (anonymous) in the December 1914 number. Short
accounts of various species are given, including the South
African Stanley and Crowned Cranes.

Dr. Butler gives us an article on " Reasoning in Birds '*
in the January 1915 number. He cites the discriminating-
powers of Parrots as instances of reasoning. The February
number contains, inter alia, a short account by Mr. H. D.
Astley of the Brown-necked Parrot {Poicephalus fuscicollis)
in captivity. Mr. G. H. Gurney, F.Z.S., gives us in the
April number an account of the breeding in captivity of the
South African Coly (Colius striatus). Mr. Gurney is pro-
bably the first aviculturist to breed this bird in confinement.

The Auoust number contains an article on the Yulturine
Guinea-Fowl {Acryllium vidturinum), by Dr. Graham Ren-
sliaw, with a photo half-tone illustration of the bird.

Twelfth Annual Meet'iiKj. 115

'6. ^ British Birds' 1915. 12 numbers.

While there is little of special interest to South African
ornithologists in this magazine, it contains articles of great
general interest, especially those on the life-histories of
English Birds by Miss E. L. Turner, Maud Haviland,
E. J3. Dunlop, and others. These are invariably illustrated
by beautiful photographs.

IX. — Proceedings of tlie South African Ornithologists' Union.
Report of tJie 2\velfth Annual Meeting.

The Annual Meeting was originally held in the Transvaal
University College on Monday, July 5th, 1915, at -4.30 p.ji.,
when Sir Arnold Theiler took the Chair. After the pre-
liminary business had been transacted, it was found necessary
to adjourn the meeting on account of other matters pertaining
to the Science Congress, and the adjourned meeting was
held in the Office of the Director of the Transvaal Zooloo-ical
Gardens on the following Wednesday afternoon at 3 p.m.,
when the Rev. Noel Roberts (Johannesburg) took the
Chair, in the unavoidable absence of the President. There
were present : — Messrs. Austin Roberts, D. Kehoe, C. E.
Gyde, and Ivan Ayres, of Pretoria ; Mr. F. W. Fitzsimmons,
of Port Elizabeth; and the Hon. Secretary (Mr. A. K.
Haagner). The Secretary's report and Treasurer's statement
are printed herewith.

The subject of the protection of birds was again discussed^
and a Sub-Committee was appointed to consider the matter.
This consists of the Rev. Roberts (Chairman), and Messrs.
C. E. Gj'de, A. K. Haagner, Austin Roberts, and Ivan
Ayres (Hon. Secretary).

A new Sub-Committee was also appointed to discuss the
matter of bird-migration, and to try and infuse a little more
enthusiasm into the subject. This Committee includes
Messrs. A. K. Haagner (Chairman), Ivan Ayres, G. A. II.

116 Twelfth Annual Meeting.

Bedford, Dr. H. G. Breyer, Rev. Roberts, and Mr. Austin
Roberts as Secretary.

Three new Members were elected to the Union : — Messrs.
H. B. Papenfus, of Johannesburg; Mr. Grurth Edelsten, of
Sepani ; and Mr. C. G. Worman, of Durban.

Several Members were removed from the roll for non-
payment of subscriptions.

The office-bearers for 1916 were elected as follows: —

rresident Sir Aknold Theiler, K.C.M.G., Pretoria.

fDr. L. Peringuey, S.A. Museum, Cape Town.

I C. M. G. JouNSTON, Bloemfoutein.
Vice-Presidents ■•■■i^^^^^ ^^^^^^ U,^,^,^^.

\C F. M. SwY^^NERTON, Rhodesia.
Hon. Sec. Sf Treas.. . A. K. Haagner, Zoological Gardens, Pretoria.
Retiring Editor .... B. C. R. Lang ford (for a further term of three
years).

Members of the Council.

For Cape Colony F, W. Fitzsimons.

„ Natal Dr. J. E. Briscoe.

„ Transvaal A.Roberts.

„ Orange Free State K. C. Johnston.

„ Basutoland J. P. Murray.

„ Port. East Africa P. A. Sheppard.

„ Rhodesia Ttev. S. S. Doenan.

A vote of thanks was accorded to Mr. B. C. R. Langford
for his past services to the Union, with the Union's hearty
good wishes, on his departure for England.

Report for 1914.

The year 1914 has been the worst for the Union so far
experienced, as, owing to the strike, the war, and the rebel-
lion, the country has been in a fairly unsettled state. Some
of our most active Members have been attending to more
serious duties than bird-watching, and papers for the
' Journal ' have been very scarce, with the result that only
one number of the ' Journal'' could be issued last year. This
contains 51 pages letterpress and two photographic plates.
A short number of the 'Bulletin' series was also issued.

Tii-elftli Annual Meeting. 117

containing a key-list of the first 12 families of South African
birds.

I can only reiterate what I said in my last Annual Report,
viz., that if Members will not take a warmer interest in the
Society, and try and send the editors some publishing mate-
rial from time to time, their task becomes a hopeless one.
I would again appeal to those of our Members who can assist
in this direction.

Alemberslup. — Thi'ee new members seek election into our
ranks : Messrs. H. B. Papenfus of Johannesburg and
Gurth Edelsten of Sepani, O.F.S., the former proposed by
myself and the latter by Mr. K. C. Johnston of Westminster;
also Mr. A. C. Worman of Durban. I would suggest
remoying from the roll of Members seven names, some of
which have not paid up since 1908 and others — of whom
two officers who have left South Africa — since 1909. The
total membership at date, including- those to be elected, but
excluding those I have just mentioned, totals 83 ordinary
and three honorary.

Bird-Protection. — At the last meeting I mentioned that a
Joint Committee for this purpose had been appointed in
Johannesburg, on which two of our Members were elected
as delegates from the S.A.O.U. No meetings of this Com-
mittee have been held — at any rate, I have received no
notification to attend any, — probably on account of the
unrest in the country. I would suggest that a strong
recommendation l)e made to the Town Council of Pretoria
tliat all small birds be protected on' the Town Lands of
Pretoria, with the exception of the Weaver and Bishop
Birds. I saw a boy last week with a powerful air-gun
shooting several Larks, and these birds are of great utility
to the farmer and market-gardener. I would suggest tliat a
small Sub-Committee be appointed to draw up a bye-law and
wait upon the Mayor and Town Council in order to explain
the reasons for our suggestion.

Migration. — Little has been done recently in this matter,

118

Twelfth Annucd Meethu/.

partly on account of the lethargy digplayed by the public,
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wont to give it. I would suggest the election of another
Member of the Society as Secretary for this work.

Pretoria,
June 28th,1915.

A. K. Haagnee,

Hon. Sec.

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THE JOURNAL

OF THE

SODTH AFRICAN ORNITHOLOGISTS' CNION.

Vol. XI. DECEMBER 1916. No. 2.

X. — Observations on the Birds of the District of Humansdnrp,
Cape Province. Bj B. A. Masterson.

Common Vulture (Gi/ps kolbii). — This bird has entirely
disappeared from this district, not one having been re-
corded for the last fifteen years. Formerly (up to 1898)
it bred here regularly in a big krantz on a farm about
nine miles from the town.

The reason the farmers give for the disappearance of the
Vulture is that they died through having eaten of the flesh
of cattle which died of rinderpest.

The nest is a big heap of sticks, usually placed on a ledge
or rock. Breedino- season Aunust.

It lays one egg of a dirty-white colour.

Black Vulture (Otogr/ps auricularis). — Disappeared at
the same time as Gyps kolbii. Did not breed here.

White-necked Raven (Corvullur aUncollis). — Becoming-
very rare. Only three pairs recorded since 1912. One pair
breeds in a krantz near the Ga;iitoos River: the nest is
placed in a hole in the krantz, and is composed of sticks,
twigs, and grass lined with fibre and hair.

Breeding season November to January.

It lays three eggs of a bluish colour, spotted and blotched
with brown.

Is'ot uncommon along the coast.

9

120 Mr. B. A. Masterson on

Jackal-Buzzard {Bxdeo jackal). — I have not found any
nests.

Bataleur {Helotarsus ecandatus). — Common in the moun-
tains and kloofs. I have not found the nests.

Black-shouldered Kite {Elanus coeruleus). — Common.
It usually builds in isolated trees. The nest is composed of
sticks and twigs, lined with grass and hair.

Breeding season August to February.

It lays four to five greenish-coloured eggs, spotted and
blotched with brown.

Yellow-billed Kite [Milvus cegyptius). — Common in
certain parts of the district. It nests in krantzes on a
ledge under an overhanging rock.

Breeding season November.

It lavs in a depression in a rock three whitish eggs with
red-brown blotches.

Spotted Eagle-Owl (Bubo maculosus). — Very common.
Its nesting-place is usually on the bare ground under an
overhanging rock.

Breeding season September to January.

It lays two white eggs.

Bush-Owl {Syrn'mm woodfordi). — Not uncommon in the
bushveld and bushy kloofs. I have not found any
nests.

Marsh-Owl {Ano capeMsis). — Common in certain parts
of the district. I have not found any nests.

Barn-Owl (^Strix fiammed). — Common. I have found
their nests in lofts, in a thick patch of rushes along a river,
in the deserted nest of a Hammerhead, and between the
roof and ceiling of the Dutch Reformed Church in Humans-
dorp — this latter pair caused quite a commotion. For some
time, as soon as the organ started playing, two or three
frightful screeches would be heard, and at last a rumour got
about that the church was haunted. One evening as I was

tiie Birds of Humansdorp. 121

passing the church the organ started playing, and 1 heard
two screeches and recognised them at once as the screech
of the Barn-Owl, and after watching for a little while I saw
one of the birds fly out of a round air-hole in one of the
gables of tiie church, so the next day I offered to rid them
of the ghost, which I did by setting two traps and caught
both birds ; and on examining the space inside, on the ceiling,
I found the nest, a hollow in a heap of shavings; there were
three eggs, which are now in my collection.

Breeding season September to March.

They lay from two to four white eggs.

Scops Owl [Scops capensis), — Not uncommon. I caught
a pair in the hollow stump of a willow-tree in Hankey ; I
presented them to the Port Elizabeth Museum. Before
sending them away I had them in a cage, and the one laid
an egg on the floor of the cage ; the egg is pure white.

Secretary-Bird {Serpentarms secretarius). — Common in
some parts of the district. It builds a large saucer-shaped
nest of sticks on the top of an isolated tree about ten or
twelve feet from the ground.

Breeding season November to January.

It lays two white eggs.

Greater Flamingo (^Pliosnicopterus roseus). — An occa-
sional visitor.

Blue Crane [Anthropoides paradisea). — Very common.
I have counted fifty-five together, flying to the marshy
ground and sand-hills at the mouth of the Gamtoos River
in the evening ; but during the breeding season they are
found in pairs all over the district. They usually lay on a
mound in a marshy place or at the side of a vlei or river.
Tiie young ones are very easily reared and become very
tame.

Breeding season November to January.

They lay two light brown oggs, spotted and blotched with
dark brown.

122 Mr. B. A. Masterson on

Grey Heron {Ardea clnerea). — Very common. It builds
a nest of sticks, rnslies, nnd straw, usually placed on a ledge
on the face of a cliff or kranrz, and sometiaies ou the tops of
high trees, such as Euphorbias.

Breeding season September to December.

The eggs are of a pale bine colour.

"White-backed Heron {Nydicorax leuconotus). — I have
only seen one on the banks of the Klein River at Hankey.
I shot it and presented it to the Port Elizabeth Museum.

Cape Thick-knee {G^dlcnemus capensis). — Very common.
I have counted eleven in one flock during the winter, but
they separate in the breeding season, and are then only
found in pairs. They lay in a depression on the bare
ground.

Breeding season October to February.

They lay two greyish-brown eggs, spotted and blotched
with dark brown.

Water Thick-knee (G^dicnemus vermicidatus). — Common
along certain rivers. It has a peculiar, plaintive, whistling
call, quite distinct from that of the Cape Thick-knee. Its
nest is a slight depression in the giound near a river or vlei.

Breeding season October to February.

It lays two greyish-brown eggs, spotted and blotched with
dark brown.

Crowned Lapwikci {SteplianUiyx coroncUvs). — Very com-
mon. I have counted seventeen in one flock during the
winter; in the laying season they separate into pairs. The
nest is a slight depression in the ground, surrounded by
sticks, dry grass-roots, and })ieces of dry cow and horse
dung.

Breeding season Septem.ber to March.

It lays three greyish-brown eggs, spotted and blotched
with dark brown.

Three-banded Plover [Charadrius tricollaris). — Very
common in some parts of the district along the rivers and
vleis. I have not found anv nests.

the Birds of Humansdorp. 123

Sand-Plover {Charadrius vartus). — Very common alono;
the coast. I found one nest in November, among a lot of
loose stones and rocks, on the beach at Jetil'reys Bay. The
nest was a sh'ght depression in tlie ^and, :ind contained two
greyish-brown eggs, spotted and bk)tc']i('d with (Jark brown.

Black-backed Gull (Larus dominiaanis) . — Vcrvcommon
on the seashore, especially at fisheries, where they act as
scavengers, eating the offal from the fish. They lay two
browiiish-o-rev eo-os blotched with brown on the sand, nsnallv
beside a log, or boulder, or a bu?h. The young ones are
very easily reared and tamed.

Breeding season (September to March.

Hammerhead {Scopus umhretta). — Very common along
the rivers, water-furrows, antl vleis. It builds on krantzes
and in the forks of high trees, usually over water. About
two years ago I found a nest on the top of a high rock
about five miles away from any water. The nest is a large
dome-shaped structure of sticks, mealie-stalks, hoop-iron,
bits of tin, bones, rags, and almost any kind of rubbish; it
measures from two to three or four feet in diameter, it is
plastered with mud on the inside.

Breeding season October to February.

It lays from three to four dirty-white eggs.

JCgyptian Goose {Chenalopex cegyptiacns). — This bird has
entirely disappeared from the district; it has not been re-
corded here for the last eight years. Formerly it bred
regularly along the Gamtoos River. • It builds a saucer-
shaped nest of coarse grass on a ledge in a high cliff and in
long grass near water.

Breeding season September to January.

It la^'s from hve to nine white eggs.

Yellow-billed Duck [Anas undulatd). — Very common
on the open rivers and vleis. It builds a nest of rushes,
grass, and aquatic weeds, usually in the rushes or reeds
growing in or along the side of the water, but I have found

124 Mr. B. A. Mastersori on

a nest in long grass on a hillock about three miles away
from water.

Breeding season May to February.

It lays from five to nine greenish-white eggs. I have
heard of a nest being found with eleven eggs, but cannot
vouch for the truth of the statement.

Bed-billed Teal {Anas erythorh/ncha). — An occasional
visitor. In 1895 we had very heavy and continuous rain,
and all the vleis were full of water ; that season they bred
here. I saw several broods of ducklings, but could not find
any nests ; the biggest brood I saw was five, in the month
of September.

S.A. Pochard {Nyroca capensis). — An occasional visitor.
It bred hei'e the same season as the Bed-billed Teal. The
ducklings appeared from September to November. I could
not find any nests.

Moorhen [GalUmtla cWoropus). — Common in certain
parts of the district. It builds on the water among the
rushes a nest of rushes and aquatic weeds.

Breeding season September to January.

It lays from four to seven greyish-brown eggs marked
with brown spots.

Bed-knobbed Coot or Bleshoen (Fulica cristata). — Very
common on most of the open rivers and vleis. Its habits
are exactly the same as the Moorhen; but in this bird
the forehead is a pure white, instead of red, and its eggs
are slightly larger.

Cape Dabchick (Little Grebe) [Colymhus capensis). —
Common on the rivers and vleis. It builds a nest of aquatic
weeds, floating on the water at the inner edge of the rushes
or reeds growing in the water.

Breeding season July to March.

It lays from five to nine dirty-white eggs.

Hadadah Ibis (^Theristicus hagedasJi). — Common in some
j.>arts of the district. During the winter they fly about in

the Birds of Human sdorp. 125

large flocks — I have counted fifteen in one flock ; they
separate into pairs during the breeding season. They build
shallow uests of reeds, rushes, and coarse grass on a ledge
in a krantz. I found a nest on the top of a Hammerhead's
nest in the fork of a wild fig-tree about fifteen feet from
the ground.

Breeding season October to February.

They lay three to four yellowish-brown eggs streaked and
blotched with dark brown.

Black (Jrow [Corvus capensis). — Very common. In the
winter they congregate in very large flocks, especially
towards eventide. They usually build in isolated trees in
the veld, the nest being composed of sticks, twigy, and
rootlets lined with hair.

Breeding season October to February.

Eggs from three to five and of a pinkish colour with
brown spots.

Red-winged Fkancolin {FrancoUnns lecaillanti). — Com-
mon in certain parts of the district ; they are usually found
in flocks or covies up to sixteen in one covey. The nest is
composed of grass in a depression in the ground under a
thick bush or bunch of long grass.

Breeding season November to January.

They lay from five to nine eggs of a dirty-white colour.

Grey- WINGED Francolin (Francolinus a/ricanus). — Com-
mon in certain parts of the district. They are found in
flocks or covies of five to eleven. The nest is composed of
grass ; in a depression in the ground under a thick bush or
tuft of long grass.

Breeding season November to January.

Eggs from five to seven and of a dirty-white colour,
resembling those of the preceding species.

Cape Red-necked Francolin (Ptemistes nudicolUs). —
Common where there is any bush about. In habits very
much like the domestic fowl, only more ])ugnacious. The

126 Mr. B. A. Masterson on .

nest is composed of grass and leaves ; in a depression in the
ground, usually under a thick bush or shrub.

Breeding season September to March.

It lays from five to eleven eggs of a yellowish colour.

Rock-Pigeon ( Colnmha pJuponota) . — Very common . They
are found in large flocks on newl}^ sown nnd newly reaped
lanJs. They do not build, bnt nest in holes or crevices
in the krantzes. They have bred in captivity.

Breeding sen son August to March.

They lay two white eggs.

Olive Pigeon {Columha arqiiatrix). — Common in the
forests. They live principally on berries and wild fruits,
especially wild figs and the ripe berries of the Yellow-v.-ood.

Bri^eding season November to February.

They lay two white eggs on a platform of twigs in a high
tree.

Ped-eyed Turtle-Dove (Turtur semitorquatus) . — Very
common. The nest is a platform of twigs in a high tree.
They are usually found feeding with the Turtle-Uoves.

Breeding season September to March.

They lay two white eggs.

(.^INNAMON Dove [Haplopelia larvata). — Common in the
forests, where it is usually found on the ground under the
trees picking up berries and seeds or perched on a branch
near the ground. The nest is a platform of twigs in a low
tree. Eggs white and two in number.

Breeding season October to March.

GrREEN Fruit-Pigeon ( Fij^a^o delalandii) . — Common in
the forest, especially when the Yellow-wood berries are ripe.
I have not been able to find the nest.

Cape Turtle-Dove {Turtur capkola). — Very common.
The nest is a platform of twigs in a bush or tree. Two
white eoas.

Breeding season Auo-ust to l\Iarch,

the Birds of Humansdorp. 127

Laughing Dove (^Turtur senegalensis). — Yerj common in
certain parts of the district, especially along the Gamtoos
River. The nest is a small platform ot' twigs in a bush or
tree. Eggs two in number, pure whil:e.

Breeding season Septemljer to March.

Tambourine Dove ( Tympanistria tijnijitunstria). — Common
along the Gamtoos River, where it is usnnlly found perched
in the castoi-oil trees or on the oround under the trees
picking up the castor-oil seed.

The nest is a small platform of twigs in a low bush or tree.

Breeding season November to February.

It lays two white eggs.

Emerald-spotted Dove {Chalcopella a/m). — Common in
the bushveld and bushy kloofs. The nest is a small plat-
form of twigs in a low bush or tree. Like the other Doves
it lays two white eggs.

Breeding season November to February.

NamaqUxI Dove {(Ena capensis). — Common in a few
localities. The only nest I have seen was a small platform
of twigs, on a bush fence, in the Oudtshoorn district ;
December 1896. There were two white eggs in the nest.

Knysxa Plantain-eater (Turacus corythali'). — Common
in the forests and bushy kloofs. About Hankey they are
very destructive in the apple-orchards. The nest is a plat-
form of sticks in a dense tree or bush about ten or fifteen
feet from the ground.

Breeding season November to February.

It lays two to three pure white shiny eggs.

Black-headed Coucal (Centropus hurchelli). — Very
common. It builds a domed nest of sticks, rushes, and
coarse grass, usually in a thick bush, near the ground, but
I found one nest in the top of an orange-tree about ten feet
fi'om the ground.

Breeding season October to February.

It lays from three to five white eggs.

128 Mr. B. A. Masterson on

Pied Starling (Spreo hicolor). — Very common. The
nest is built in a hole in the bank of a river or donga ; the
nest is composed of grass, weeds, bits of string, feathers, and
hair. This bird is very often the host of the Honey-guides.

Breeding season August to Mai'ch.

It lays from three to six dark green eggs.

Red- WINGED Starling {Amydrus mono). — Very common.
It builds on a wall under the roof of a house, on the beams
of a house, in krantzes, and in trees. The nest is a very
untidy cup-shaped structure of grass, rags, bits of string,
dry cow and horse dung, and mud^ lined with feathers and
hair.

Breeding season October to March.

It lays from three to five green eggs, spotted and blotched
with brown.

Glossy Starling (Lamprocolius phoenicopterus). — Very
common in certain parts of the district. It builds a nest of
grass, lined with feathers and hair, in a hole in the stump
of a tree or pole.

Breeding season November to February.

It lays from three to five green eggs spotted with brown.

Wattled Starling {Creatophora carunculata) . — Very
common in some parts of the district. They are usually
found in the company of Spreo hicolor. I have not seen
their nests.

Giant Kingfisher [Ceryle maxima). — Common along the
rivers. The eggs are laid in a hole about three or four feet
deep in the bank of a river ; it builds no nest.

Breeding season September to November.

It lays four to five white eggs.

Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis). — Verj' common along
the rivers. It breeds in a hole about three feet deep in the
bank of a river. Like the preceding bird, it builds no nest.

Breeding season September to January.

It lays from five to nine pinkish-coloured eggs ; pure
white after they are blown.

the Birds of Humansdorp. 129"

Brown-hooded Kingfisher {Halcyon albiventris) . — Very
common along the riA'ers and vleis. The nesting-habits are
exactly the same as those of the preceding birds.

Breeding season September to March.

It lays from three to six white eggs with very minute
black dots.

Malachite Kingfisher (Corytliomis eyano stigma). — Very
common along several of the rivers. The nesting-habits are
the same as those of the preceding birds.

Breeding season September to November.

It lays from four to six pinkish eggs ; pure white when
blown.

Ground- Woodpecker {Geocolaptes oUvaceus) . — Common
in the mountainous parts of the district. I have not found
their nests.

Knysna Woodpecker (Campothei^a notata). — Common in
the bushveld and along the rivers where willow-trees grow..
1 have not found their nests.

Wood-Hoopoe [L^risor viridis). — Common in the bush-
veld and where there are willow or euphorbia trees. I
found a nest in a hole in the stump of a dry willow-tree
along the Gamtoos River ; it contained three eggs of the-
usual size and one of only half the size of the others, but of
the same colour. I do not know if it was an abnormal egg
or if laid by some parasitic bird. I have these eggs in my
collection. This bird lays in a hole in the stump of a tree.

Breeding season November to January.

It lays three to four green eggs.

African JIoofoe (Upupa ofricana). — Common. Its nest
is usually in a hole in an ant-heap or in a hole in a stone
wall or in a krantz.

Breeding season October to January.

It lays from three to five bluish-coloured eggs.

130 Mr. B. A. Masterson on

S.A. Nightjar [Caprimulgus jyectoralis). — Common in the
busliveld. It does not build a nest, but lays its eggs on the
dry leaves under tlie trees, and if disturbed will shift the eggs
or young ones. On one occasion I had a nest under obser-
vation, and several times I had to hunt for some lime to
find the nest, as it had been moved, and once when there
were young ones, they were moved fully three feet in
twenty-four hours.

Breeding season November to January.

It lays two eggs of a piiiki^jh-yellow colour lightly blotched
with brovv^n.

Black-headed Oriole [Oriolus larvatus). — Common in
the bnshvehl. It builds a cup-shaped nest of moss (old
man's beard), which is very often suspended in a bunch of
the moss hannino- from the branch of a hioh tree from ten
to fifteen feet from the ground.

Breeding seaso'i October to January.

It lays two to three white eggs, spotted and streaked with
brown.

Fork-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus a/er). — Very common,
especially where there are high trees and bees. It builds a
neat saucer-shaped nest of twigs, moss, and cobwebs in the
fork of a branch or between two twigs in a high tree.

Breeding season October to February.

It hiys from two to four eggs — in some localities wliita
with brown spots, in others jiinkish with brown spots.

Pa-RADISE Flycatcher (Terpsiphoue jjerspiclllatd). — (Atm-
mon in the bushveld, plantations, and orchards. It builds a
neat little cup-shaped nest of fibre, covered with moss, at
the end of a branch, very often overhanging a pool of
water.

Breeding season October to March.

It lays three eggs of a cream-colour spotted with brown.

Cape Flycatcher {Paclyprora capensis). — C'Ommon in
the bushveld and bushy kloofs. It builds a neat little cup-
shaped nest of very fine twigs, fibre, and hair, covered with

the Birds of [lumansdorp. 131

ino':s, and is oft_Mi verv hard to find, as it is usually built
very closely into the fork oE a branch or on the top of a
branch, where it is firmly fixed with cobwebs.

Breedino- season October to February.

It lays two eggs of a bluish-white colour spotted and
blotched with brown.

Dusky Flycatcher (^Aheonax adusta). — Common in a
few localities, especially in plantations.
I have not found the nests.

Yellow-throated Honey-Guide {Indicator major). —
Common in the bushveld and bushy kloofs. While living
in Hankey I saw a Honey-Gruide (^Indicator viajor) make a
dart at a hole in the riv er-bank, and then fly away : it went
through this perform.-mce several times, and at last went
into the hole, but I was called away before it came out.
The next day I went there and opened up the hole, and
found three eggs of Spreo hicolor and one smaller white egg
which 1 took to be the egg of the Honey-Guide. The year
before that I found a simihir egg in a nest of Spreo hicolor
about three feet from the one just mentioned, so I wrote to
Mr. R. H, Iv}^,' in Grahamstown, giving him the particulars,
and he wrote saying jt must be one of the Honey-Guides.

Bronze Cuckoo {Clirysncoccjjx Jdaa.si). — Tery common
along the lower p;irt of Gamtoos River. I could not find
any of their eggs.

DiDRic Cuckoo (^Chrysococcyx cuprevs). — Very common
along the lower part of Gamtoos River. I could not find
any of their eggs.

FisKAL Shrike (Lanius coUaris). — Very common. It
builds a cup- shaped nest of grass, weeds, rags, twine, etc.,
lined with wool and feathers, in a biish or tree. On Novem-
ber 10th, 1914, I found a nest at the end of a bushy kloof,
which contained three eggs of the usual size and another
one nearly half as large again, but of the same colour.
These eggs are in my collection.

132 Mr. B. A. Masterson on

Breeding season September to March.
It lays from three to five greenish-grey eggs spotted and
blotched with brown.

TcHAGRA Bush-Shrike {TelepJionus tchagra). — Very
■common along the Gamtoos River. It builds a shallow cup-
shaped nest o£ twigs and fibre, usually in the fork of a
branching dwarf aloe.

Breeding season October to January.

It lays three eggs of a white colour spotted and streaked
with brown.

Greater Puff-backed Shrike (^Dryoscopus ferrugineus).
— Very common in the bushveld and bushy kloofs. It
builds a saucer-shaped nest of fibrous roots in a thick bush.

Breeding season October to January.

Eggs three and of a bluish colour with brown spots.

Bakbakiri Shrike (Laniarius gidturalis). — Very common.
It builds a cup-shaped nest of twigs and weeds, lined with
fibre, wool, and hair in a dense bush or shrub.

Breeding season October to February*

It lays three greenish-blue eggs spotted and blotched with
brown.

Noisy Robin-C^hat {Cossypha hicolor). — Common in the
bushveld and bushy kloofs. It builds a cup-shaped nest of
fibrous roots in a krantz or dense bush.

Breeding season September to January.

It lays three eggs of a brownish colour, mottled with
darker brown.

Brown Robin-Chat [Cossypha sigjiata). — Common in the
bushveld. I have not found any of their nests.

Cape Robin-Chat [Cossypha caffrd). — Common in certain
parts of the district, especially the bushy kloofs of the
zuurveld. I have not found any of their nests.

Black Bush-Robin {Tar^iger sihns),—yei-j coomon in

the Birds of Hamansdorp. 133

the bushveld and bushy kUioFs. It builds a cup-shaped nest
of twigs and weeds in a dense bush.

Breeding season October to January.

It lays three greenish eggs mottled v/ith brown.

Cape Ground-Robin [Erytliropygia coryplueus). — Common.
It builds its nest under a bush, on the ground, surrounded
by a lot of sticks. Some of the sticks, being far too heavy
for the birds to carry, are dragged into position. The nest
itself is cup-shaped, and is composed of twigs and grass
roots lined with hair.

Breeding season August to February.

It lays three bluish eggs, spotted and blotched with
brown.

BuLBUL {Pycnonotus capensis). — Common in certain part&
of the district. It builds a cup-shaped nest of fine twigs in
a dense bush.

Breeding season October to January.

It lays three pinkish-coloured eggs mottled with brown.

Sombre Bulbul [Andropadus iinportunin). — Common in
the bushveld and in orchards. It builds a neat saucer-
shaped nest of twigs and moss on an overhanging branch.

Breeding season October to February.

It lays two light grey eggs, blotched with brown.

Cape Thrush (^Turdus olivaceus). — Common in the forests
and bushveld. It builds a cup-shaped nest of twigs and
moss (old man's beard) in a tree.

Breeding season November to January.

It lays two greenish eggs, spotted and blotched with,
brown.

Cape Rock-Thrush {Monticola rupestris). — Common in.
the mountainous parts of the district. It builds a shallow
cup-shaped nest of twigs and roots lined with hair, usually
in a hollow under a stone or rock, or in a hole in an.
ant-heap.

Breeding season November to January.

It lays three greenish eggs with brown spots.

134 Mr. B. A. Master.<on on

SExNTtinel Rock-Thrush (Monticola explorator). — Common
in tlie monntainons parts oF the district. It is a smaller
bird than M. rupestris, but the habits are the same.

Ant-eating Chat [Myrmecociclda f or mici vara). —Common
in some parts o£ the district, especially where there are ant-
heaps and antbear-holes. It builds in a hole in the side of
sin antbear-hole or in a hole in an ant-heap.

Breeding- season November to January.

It lays three white eggs.

Capped Wheatear (Saxicola pileata). — Common in some
parts of the district; it is usually found where there are
stone-wiill kraals. It builds a saucer-shaped nest of grass
lined with hair in a hole in a wall.

Breeding season November to January.

It lays three eggs of a pale green colour.

Familiar Chat (Saxicola familiaris). — Very common. It
builds a cup-sha[)ed nest of grass and wool, lined with hair.

Breeding season September to March.

It lays three blue eggs, spotted with dull brown at the
thick end.

Sickle-winged Chat (Emarginata sinuata). — Common in
some parts of the district. It builds a cu[)-shaped nest of
grass and wool lined with hair in a hole in the bank of a
furi-ow or donga, or in a hole in an ant-heao, or in a hollow
under a stone.

Breeding season September to Januar3^

It lays three light blue eggs, with dull brown spots on
the thick end.

Stone-Chat {Fratincola torquata). — Very common. It
builds a nest of grass lined with fibre and hair in a hole in
an ant-heap, in a bank, in a hollow under a stone, or under
a dense shrub. I found one nest in a two-pound golden-
syrup tin lying on its side.

Breeding season August to March.

It lavs three pale green eggs spotted and blotched with
brown.

tlce Birds of Ilumansdorp. 135

Cape Wagtail [Motac'dla capens'is). — Very common. It
builds a cup-shaped nest of grass, rags, and twine, lined
with wool and hair, in a hole in the bank of a river or water-
furrow, under a tuft of grass, or in any convenient place in
an outhouse or stable.

Breeding season September to March.

It lays three brownish-yellow eggs mottled with dark
brown.

Afc-RiCAN Pied Wagtail {Motacilla vidua). — Confined to
certain localities. I have not found any nests.

Golden-breasted Bunting {Emheriza flaviventris). —
Common along the Gamtoos River. It builds a neat cup-
shaped nest of grass and twigs, lined with hair, usually in
a Mimosa tree, about ten or twelve foet from the ground.

Breeding season November to January.

It lays three to four white eggs spotted and streaked with
brown.

Cape Bunting {Frinr/illaria capensis). — Common in the
mountainous and rocky parts of the district. It builds
a cup-shaped nest of grass, lined with fibre and hair, in a
hollow under a rock.

Breeding season October to March.

It lays three to four greenish eggs spotted and blotched
with brown.

RocE-BuNTiNG {Frinr/ilhiria taliapisi). — Common in tlie
mountainous and rocky parts of the district. It builds a
cup-shaped nest of twigs and grass, lined with fibre and
hair, in a hole in a krantz or in a hollow -under a stone.

Breedino- season November to February.

Eggs greenish spotted with brown, and three in number.

Cape Canary {Serinus canicollis). — Very common. It
builds a cup-shaped nest of twigs and weeds, lined with
wool and hair, in a tree or in a low dense bush.

Breeding season September to March.

It lays three to four pale blue eggs, spotted and streaked
with brown.

^10

136 Mr. B. A. Masterson on

White-throated Seed-eater (Serinus alUgularis) . —
Common in some parts of the district. It builds a cup-
shaped nest like the Cape Canary, but slightly larger, and
lays three pale blue eggs spotted and streaked with brown
during the months of October to January.

Streaky-headed Seed-eater [PoUospiza gvlaris). —
Common in some parts of the district. It builds a nest
similar to the Cape Canary in the top of a high tree, the
breeding season being October to February.

It lays three bluish eggs spotted and streaked with
brown.

Mountain-Canary {Alario alario). — An occasional visitor..
I have not seen its nest.

Cape White-eye (Zosterops capensis). — Very common.
It builds a neat little cup-shaped nest of fine fibre, moss, and
cobwebs during the months of October to March, and lays
lour to five pale blue eggs.

Speckled Mouse-bird {Col'ius striatus). — Common in cer-
tain parts of the district. It builds a shallow cup-shaped
nest of twigs and weeds, lined with leaves and wool, in a
tree.

Breeding season November to February.

It lays three to four eggs of a dirty-white colour.

White-backed Mouse-bird (CoUus capensis). — Common
in certain parts of the district. It is also called the Wild
Mousebird, being very shy.

Breeding season November to February.

I have only found two nests, one iu November, which had
two creamy-white eggs, and another in February, with two
young ones just hatched.

Red-faced Mouse-bird {CoUus eri/thromelon) . — Very
conunon in certain parts of the district ; this bird is some-
times called the Tame Mousebird.

It builds a cup-shaped nest of twigs, weeds, and moss,
lined with leaves, wool^ down, and bits of twine.

tlie Birds of Ilamansdovp. 137

Breeding season October to March.

It lays three to four eggs of a dirty-white colour.

Common' Waxbill (^Estrilda astrlld). — Very common. It
builds a domed nest of grass seed-tuEts, lined with feather?,
on the ground, under a tuft of overhanging grass or under
a dense shrub.

It lays during October to January four to nine pure
white e^ii'S.

Ruddy Waxbill (^Lagonnsticta ruhricata). — Common in
some parts of the district. I have not been able to find any
nests.

SwEE Waxbill [Estrilda dufresnii). — Very common in
some parts of the district, especially along the Gamtoos
River. It builds a domed nest of grass seed-tufts in a tree,
about five feet from the ground, and lays from four to seven
pale blue eggs during the months of October to January,

Masked "Weaver-Bird {Hyphantomis velatns). — Very
common in certain parts of the district. U builds a kidney-
shaped nest of grass, lined with down and feathers, the
entrance is from underneath ; it is usually suspended from
the branch of a tree overhanging water or between two
reeds.

Breeding season September to January.

It lays three eggs, which — as is well known — vary very
much in colour.

Cape Weaver-Biru (Sltagra capensis), — Very common.
It builds a nest exactly like that of the Masked Weaver,
only slightly larger.

Breeding season September to January.

It lays two to four greenish- blue eggs.

Bottle Weaver-Bird {Sltagra ocidaria). — Common in
the bushveld. It builds a kidney-shaped nest with a long
neck hanging downwards, which forms the entrance to the

10*

138 Mr. B. A. Masterson on

nest ; the building-material is a red fibre, torn from the
edge of the lea£ o£ a plant that grows in the bushveld.

Breeding season October to February.

It lays three pinkish-white eggs spotted witb brown.

Forest Weaver-Bird {Sitagra gregalis). — Common in
the bushveld. It builds a kidney-shaped nest of fine tendrils
of creepers. The nest has a long neck, this being the entrance
to the nest ; it is suspended from the branch of a high tree,
sometimes ovei'hanging water.

Breeding season October to January.

It lays two eggs of a bluish colour, spotted and blotched
with brown.

Cape Bishop-Bird (Pi/romclana capensis). — Very common.
It builds a domed nest with the entrance at the side near
tlie top ; it is made of fine grass, lined with grass seed-tufts.
It is usually placed in the long grass or bushes growing
beside a stream or pool of water.

Breeding season October to January.

It lays two to three eggs of a bluish-grey colour spotted
and mottled with slaty.

Long-tailed Widow-Bird (CoUopasser procne). — Com-
mon in certain parts of the distiict. It builds a domed nest
of grass, with the entrance at the side near the top. It is
placed in long grass on the ground, usually in a marshy
place.

Breeding season October to January.

It lays three bluish-grey eggs spotted and blotched with
greyish brown.

Pin-tailed Whydah (Vidua principalis). — Very common.
I found a nest of the latter with nine eggs, five of the usual
•size and four slightly larger and rounder, the four I took to
belong to the Whydah.

What I am about to relate may assist in establishing
Mr. Roberts's claim in connection with the nestino-habits

o

of the Pin-tailed Whydah {Vidua principalis).

the Birds of Humansdorp. 139

On the morning of the 12th October I took a short walk
from mj store on to <i slight rise, and while looking about
I saw a lien Whydah fly past with a feather in her bill and
alight in some long grass in a niaisliy spot about fifty yards
from wdiere I was standing; so I waited, and as soon as she
flew away (aitliout the feailier) I went to look and found a
nest, but: did not touch it, so I went back a little distance
and watched, and then saw a Waxbill with grass in its
be dc go to the same spot. Shortly afterwards tbe Whyrlah
came back with another feather, and wdiile she was at the
nest the male kept bobbing up and down in the air just
above the locality, I did not go near again until the 17th
when I went to get the nest, and as I got there the Waxbill
flew out; so I took the nest, and found five pure white fggs
of the Waxbill and two a little larger, also pure white,
which must have been laid by the Whydah. I trust this
wid be of some interest.

Rrd-shouldered Widow-Bird {Urohrachya axillaris).—
Confined to the Gamtoos River. I have not been able to
find any of their nests.

Malachite Slinbird [Nectarinia famjsa) . — Very common.
It builds a domed nest of grass, fibre, and twigs, lined with
hair, feathers, and wool, the entrance is at the side near
the top ; it is suspended from a branch or bush, usually
overhanging a pool or stream or a donga.

Breeding season October to January.

It lays two eggs spotted and blotched with brown.

Lesser Dolble-collared Sukbird .(Clialcomitra clialy-
hnis). — Very common in the bushveld. It builds a domed
nest of twigs, fibre, and moss, lined with wool and feathers,
the entrance being at the side near the top.

Breeding season October to March.

Eggs two and of a grey colour thickly spotted with
slate.

Black Sunbird {Clialcomilra ametlir/stimts). — Common in
the bushveld. I have never found any of their nests.

140 Mr. B. A. Mnsterson on

Orange-breasted Sunbird (/t/i^Ao.'^ap/tes riolacea). — Very
common in the high veld or zuurveld. It builds a domed
nest of twigs, grass, and wool, lined with vegetable down.
This bird is a winter layer.

Breedino; season June to Auo-iist.

It lavs two orreyish-white errtii mottled with grey-brown.

Cape Sugarbird {Promemj^s capensis). — Common in cer-
tain parts o£ the district, where the Protea grows. It builds
a cup-shaped nest of twigs and grass, lined with the downy
seeds o£ the Protea. This bird is a winter layer. The nest
is usually placed in a Protea bush about four or five feet
from the ground.

Breeding season May to July.

It lays two pinkish-white eggs, spotted, blotched, and
streaked with brown.

Larger Stripe-breasted Swallow (Hirundo cucullata). —
Very common in summer. It builds a globular nest of mud,
with a long tunnel-like entrance, usually along a beam in a
house or under the eaves of a roof.

Breeding season October to April.

It lays two to three white eggs.

Lesser Stripe-breasted Swallow {Hirundo puella). —
Common along the rivers where there are high cliffs. It
builds a nest like the larger bird, but a little smaller, and
usually under an overhanging rock.

Breeding season October to February.

It lays two pure white eggs,

"White-throated Swallow {Hirundo alhigidaris). — Com-
mon. It builds a cup-shaped nest of mud against a beam
in a house or under an overhanging rock.

It lays during the months October to February three
to four w'hite eggs spotted with brown.

Pearl-breasted Swallow {Hirundo dimidiata). — Con-
fined to certain parts of the district. It builds a saucer-

the Birds of Humansdorp. 141

shaped nest of mud, usually against a beam in an outhouse,
linino- it with wool and feathers.

Breeding season October to January.

Eggs three to four, small and of a pure white colour.

Black Rough-winged Swallow {Psalidoprocne holo-
melcena). — Confined to certain parts of the district. It
bores a hole in the sand-bank of a river, usually about three
feet deep, and in this hole it lays its eggs, which are laid
during September to January and are two in number and
pure white.

Rock-Martix (Ptyonoprocne fuUgida). — Common in cer-
tain parts of the district. It builds a cup-shaped nest of
mud under the eaves of a roof or under an overhano[inof
rock.

Breeding season October to February.

It lays three cream-coloured eggs spotted with brown.

White-bellied Swift {Cypselus afrimnus). — Common in
one or two localities in summer. I have not found any of
their nests.

White-rumped Swift, (Q/p5g/i<s cafer). — Very common
in the summer. It lays in the nests of the Swallows.
Breeding season October to Februai-y.
It lays two pure white eggs.

Orange-thkoated Longclaw [Macronyx cape7isis). —
Common in the zuurveld or high veld. It builds a cup-
shaped nest of grass, lined with fine fibre and hair, under a
tuft of grass or shrub.

Breeding season September to January.

It lays three greyish eggs spotted and blotched with
brown.

Tawny Pipit {AntJms rufuhis). — Very common on the
open flats, where it builds a cup-shaped nest of grass and
rootlets, lined with hair, under a tuft of grass.

Breeding season October to February.

It hays three greyish eggs mottled with brown.

142 Rev. Robert Godrey on

Cape Quail (Cotumix africana). — Some years they are
very plentiful on the lands. They lay in a depression in
the ground under a tu£t o£ grass or in a land among the crops.

Breeding season November to January.

They lay from five to fourteen light brown eggs, spotted
and blotched with dark brown.

Harlequin-Quail (^Cotumix delegorguii). — An occasiunal
visitor.

Hottentot, Mountain, or Button Quail {Tuimix Uj'^u-
rana). — Not uncommon. It lays in a depression in the
ground under a tuft of grass or bush.

Breeding season November to January.

It lays three to five gcey eggs, thickly mottled with
slate.

XI. — The Summer Migration of 1915-16 as observed in the
Eastern Districts of tJie Cape Province. By Rev. Robert
Godfrey, Somerville, Tsolo.

During the winter of 1915 that tantalising species, the
"White-bellied Swift, paid us a visit on July 21. On that
day a pair were flying about over Alice, and, after a month's
absence, the species reappeared on August 20. On the
latter occasion five birds were careering over Lovedale in
the heat of the day, and finally retired in the direction of
Alice.

The true harbinger of the migratory host proved to be the
White-throated Swallow, which was detected a few days
earlier than usual, The first was noticed on the Keiskama
beside the railway bridge at Middledrift on August 25, and
on September 10 the species was present in some numbers
along that part of the Tyumie which flows through Lovedale
grounds. In my new centre of observation I find this
Swallow widely spread in summer. They remained in the
neighbourhood of Tsolo till April 2, but I believe that the
Blue-backed Shallows niet with on May 2 and 5 belonged

the Summer Migration of 1915-16. 143

to this species, though they did not give me an opportunity
of satis'actorily identifying thcMn.

No records are to hand this sonson of the movements of
the South African Cliff-Swallow. On the last day of
November, in a hurried visit to the time-honoured haunt
at Blaney goods-shed, I saw that four nests indicated their
present strength there. My efforts to elicit ths date of first
occupation of the goods-shed have so far proved unavailing,
yet I feel sure that tliis iufonnation is in the possession of
some of my readers, and I make a further appeal to them
to clear up this point for me. Unless the information is
obtained now, it may be irretrievably lost.

On the morning of September 21, after a night of slight
but steady rain, I heard at Firie the call of the Greater
Stripe-breasted Swallow, and looking up saw a pair flying
in the misty drizzle. At Tsolo this species remained till
April 23, and the last individuals were seen next day by
the Inxu.

Very little information is forthcoming regarding the
movements of the Lesser Stripe-breasted Swallow, and
during the past season the species was personnlly met with
on one occasion only. On November 29, a day of terrible
wind on the open beach, I was out for a ramble alongshore
at East London, and, in a sheltered valley covered with
dense scrub, I came on fiive of these Swallows quartering
over the tree-tops, uttering their harsh cries and settling
repeatedly on the bure stumps of dead trees that projected
above the bush level. The scene reminded }ne of the Idoof
where I first examined the nest of this species, and 1 suspect
the birds were nesting in this valley. The only Black Saw-
wing observed during the season was met with at the same
time and place.

The European Swallow eluded observation till Decem-
ber 16, when one was encountered on the Dehe Flats. By
Christmas they were quite numerous, gliding obtrusively to
and fro over the veld. In the Tsolo district, where the
species is widespread and abundant during the season, they
were in evidence till April 2, though on April 23 I saw

144 Eev. Robert Goilfrcy an

a straggler not far from tlie Tsolo itself. On February 18,
in tlie Tsitsa valley, I noticed European Swallows resting on'
long grass. I cannot recall having previously observed this
trait in this species in South Africa, though I have observed
it by the side of a Scottish loch.

The Black Swifts escaped notice altogether at the time of
their arrival, but were under careful observation towards
the end of the season. On May 9 a single bird was seen
crossing the col between the Tsitsa and the Ntywenka ; on
the 20th at midday a flock of twenty or so kept circling
about near the mission-house at Somerville for a considerable
time ; and, on the 26th, three were careering about between
the mission-house and Tsolo Mountain and finally disappeared
in the direction of Bele.

In connection with the Cuckoos, greatest interest centred^
as usual, round the Red-chested Cuckoo or Piet-mijn-vrouw.
News was brought to me at Lovedale^on September 8 that
one had been heard at Alice that day. Though this date
anticipates by several weeks the ordinary recognised date of
the bird's arrival in the Buffalo Basin, it is not without one
parallel record as far as Alice is concerned. Mrs. Green, of
Alice, has informed me that in 1913 she heard the bird
there on September 7. Judge of my delight and surprise
when two days later, in a ramble by the Tyumie, Mr. James
Chalmers and I heard Piet-mijn-vrouw call close beside us
three or four times, and yet, with all this evidence, I should
be glad to handle a specimen obtained in the first half of
September. At East London the species was not heard till
October 20. This Cuckoo remained in song at Somerville
till February 11.

A Great Spotted Cuckoo, shot near Whittlesea on
October 27, was forwarded to me by Rev. D. B. Davies, of
Peddie.

The only other Cuckoo claiming attention in the present
report is the Didric, which was heard singing repeatedly in
Tsolo village on March 8 and at Tsitsa Bridge on the follow-
ing day.

Oie Summer Miyratlon of 1915-lG. 145

On previous occasions questions have been raised regard-
ino- the status of the Paradise Flycatcher in our district, but
but my own experience still leads me to ])lace it among the
miorants. The first recorded during the current season was
feen at Pirie on October 18 by Miss Jennie Erskin, and
the last was observed in the Somerville mission-garden on
March 22.

An even more interesting Flycatcher that appears in
these migration reports for the first time is the Northern
Spotted Flycatcher. . Though this plain-plumaged species
has been obtained in the Buffalo Basin, it has hitherto
attracted little attention. In our new quarters we were
deliohted to receive a visit from one of these birds at the
end of February ; it arrived in our garden on the 26th,
forcing itself under our notice at once by its call, and it
remained with us till March 2.

Of migratory birds of prey, the Egyptian Kite was the first
to put in an appearance. Towards evening on August 29,
one was quartering fearlessly along the Nkosiane stream
at Pirie, and later in the season the bird was one of the
regular features in the landscape about Ntaba Kandoda.
Around Somerville^ this species is quite as conspicuous as it
is at Pirie, and was seen up till March 7, a week later than
the latest Pirie record.

Naumann's Kestrels were as numerous as usual about
King AVilliamstown from the 10th of November to the last
week in March, and established themselves at Colonel Style's
house. On January 4, 1 saw a number of. these little Hawks
at their former haunt in the old cemetery, and that same
evening I visited tlieir new haunt in company with Mr. Arthur
Weir. On being disturbed, the roosting birds issued forth
from their chosen tree in a series of extended rippling
waves that suggested the widening circles set in motion by
the dro])})ing of a stone on the surface of a quiet pool.

AVhile staying at Fenwick Cottage, on the watershed
between the Buffalo and the Keiskama, we were visited bv
a small Hock of these Hawks on the evening of December 11;

146 Rev. Robert Godfrey on

we saw five playing about the top of a gumtree, and about a
dozen otliers close at hand. On iemo\ing to Soniorvi lo, we
Loped to have further opportunities of observing this Hawk,
as we had previously heard of their frcqueniing the gum-
trees at the mission-house. During the latter half of the
season, however, we saw only a single pair sitting fcarle>sly
on one of the trees on the morning of Marcli 13.

One of the great surprises in store for us at Somerville
was the occurrence thereof the Eastern Red-legged Kestrel,
a migrant from Cliina. Previously i had handled an East
London specimen in Mr. (Center's collection, but I had not
seen the bird alive. From the middle of January to the
26th of February we had numbers of these birds in the
neighbourhood of the mission-house. Tliey first attracted
attention as they came to roost on some low oak-trees near
the house, and were especiidly active just before dark.
Later on they came during the glaring mid-day heat, and
after playing in the air for a while settled for their siesta
in a tall blue gum right in front of the door. In its habits
this species is a ty[)ical Kestrel, seekiig its prey by p'^riodi-
cally hovering in the air and scrutinising the ground below.
It may be easily distinguished fiom its congeners by the
silvery shinnner of its wings and in the adult males b}^ the
pure white under wing-coverts, which show up so con-
spicuously wdien the birds are sporting in the sunshine.
The greatest number seen together was fifteen.

A still furiher surprise awaited me when the Curator of
the King Williamstown Museum, Mr. Pym, inl'ormed me in
a letter written on February 21 that this species was asso-
ciifting in large numbers with Naumann's Kestrel at King
Williamstown. As we have watched the wave of migration
of Naumann's Kestrel for a number of years reach nearly
to East London, we should be prepared for a similar wave
of migration of the Eastern Red-legged Kestrel, and all
observers are requested to be on the look-out for the appear-
ance of both species next November.

The first White Stork of the season was recorded from

the Summer Migration 0/ 1915-16. 147

Pirie by Miss Fanny Ross on October 4. A long interval
ensued before others were reported. On November 29 they
were seen near Lovedale by Miss Betty Henderson, and on
December 4 they were met with by Mr. D. A. Hunter
between Lovedale and the Hogsback. At Somerville the
birds were common enough from the time of our arrival on
January 7.

At Pirie, where there is such an extensive forest and also
wide mimosa-tracts, the White Storks roost in trees, but at
Somerville, even though there are still large enough patches
of forests on the mountain-sides, the Storks prefer to roost
among the inequalities of the tremendous dongas that form
such a feature in the landscape.

Readers may remember that reference has been made
occasionally to the clappering of the Storks, and that obser-
vations were asked for in this connection. One day I
chanced to be giving an object-lesson on the Stork to the
school-children at Somerville, and I found that the children
could imitate the sound from their having heard it in the
dongas already referred to.

At Somerville two Storks were observed walking in the
smoko of some burning grass on March 23, and that same
evening a number were observed at their roosting-place in
one of the dongas. My wife saw the last belated individual
pass the window on April 8.

Much more information regarding the movements of the
Northern Waders has come to hand this year than in any
previous year. Mr. John Wood, of East London, informed
me that Mr. Center and he obtained a Little Stint at East
London on Septendjer 11, and that thereafter they obtained
a number of other specimens. Towards the end of November
I had an opportunity of handling about half-a-dozen speci-
mens obtained by the.'e gentlemen, and on three different
occasions I met with the species myself at the mouth of the
Blind River. When we remember that the breedino;-(Tround&
of the Little Stint are in the extreme north of Europe and

148 Occasional Xotcs.

of Siberia, we are led to wonder wlieii those early arrivals
oil the shores of the Indian Ocean left their northern home.

On the same day on which the first Little Stint was
obtained, a European Sandpiper was also shot, a few days
earlier than the earliest previous record. During the last
week of November, I repeatedly met with this species on the
Blind River, and, on our removal to Somerville, I met with a
solitary individual twice on the edge of the Inxu, the latter
occurrence being on the 1st of February.

A Ring-Plover was obtained by the same gentlemen at
East London on October 13 ; this specimen also was handled
by me on the occasion of my visit in November. On the
29th of the latter month I had the pleasure of seeing a pair
in company with a Little Stint at the mouth of the Blind
River.

On October 17 these gentlemen added to their records a
Wood-Sandpiper and a Sanderling, both of which also I had
the opportunity of handling. No other record of the Wood-
Sandpiper came to hand during the season, but I believe
that the Sanderling was not uncommon alongshore in the
first half of the season.

Once more I desire to tender my thanks to all my corres-
pondents for letters and for specimens, and I would again
urge them and others to continue their valued help in
advancing our knowledge of our local birds.

XII. — Occasional Notes,

8. Nesting of the Black Stork [Ciconia nigra).

The Editor received the following note in a letter dated
29th October, 1915, and thinking it of more than ordinary
interest, hereby publishes it : —

" It may possibly interest you to know that Black Storks
{Ciconia nigra) are regular visitors to this game-reserve, and
for many years they returned regularly to the same nest,
which is about a mile from this lodge, so that I had am])le

Occasional J\'otes. 149

oppoi'tunit}' o£ studying the habits of this beautiful bird.
About two years ago, although a pair returned to the old
nest, they did not lay there, and it was only last month that
I discovered the new nest on a ledge in a krantz about
200 ft. in height. It contained two half-grown young ones.
I have four eggs in my collection, and in 1912 I sent a tame
bird down to the Durban Zoo. It was one of the nicest pets
I have ever had. T have seen the Black Stork repeatedly in
Basutoland. R. E. Symons."

Game Lodge, Tabainhlope,
P.O. Estcourt, Natal.

9. To the Editor^ Journal of the S.A.O.U., Pretoria.

A discussion took place at the April meeting of the
B.O.C. on the possibility that eaters of birds' eggs possess
preferences. The point is of interest, for the explanation
that preference would afford us of much that is now puzzling
in the coloration of eggs.

A detailed account of the subject will appear shortly in
the ' Ibis.' I write here, however, in case any of my fellow-
members of the S.A.O.U. should have any observations for
or against the view, or should come across anything bearing
on it during the remainder of the present season.

Points to be borne in mind are : (1) that in other classes
of prey, at any rate, it is apparently relative indigestibility
rather than taste that is the basis of preference ; (2) that a
hungry enough animal can digest and will readily accept
and eat the most indigestible species of prey ; (3) that a
recent shortage of a particular class of prey in an animal's
diet sometimes produces a temporary special craving, under
the influence of which even species that are normally quite
low-grade will be accepted and digested as readily as a high-
grade species.

It follows from all this that mere acceptance is no proof
that the species of prey accepted is eaten normally to reple-
tion-point— is })ractically never refused. Nor is the fact
that a particular species of enemy has been known to eat all
kinds of eggs a proof that he never refuses any of them.

150 Occasional Notes.

This makes good evidence against preference hard to
obtain. Similarly, unchecked refusals, on the other hand,
may mean merely that the animal was iitterbi replete, and
this makes good evidence for preference difficult to get.
Refusals by an animal that is obviously searching for food
are another matter ; as are contrasted refusal and acceptance
and special persecution of a particular species of prey to the
apparent neglect of other species as abundant and easy to
obtain as itself.

Acceptances by captive animals are also subject to the
considerations I have mentioned. Even slight delay in
acceptance is worth "controlling" by the immediate offering
of some known favourite food to ascertain if the animal be
really replete.

I am collecting all the evidence I can get, both for and
against preference, and will be very glad indeed to hear of
any.

Other points worth observing are : (1) the animals that
eat eggs (with Moorhen and Centropus as inveterate egg-
eaters it is possible that many other birds that we do not at
present suspect may also be enemies of eggs) ; (2) the
S[)ecial enemies of Weavers' eggs ; (3) evidence on the view
that the different types of Weaver eggs are useful in
enabling the different parents to recognise their own in a
colony of many ; (-i) ejection of Cuckoos'" eggs or desertion
as a definite result of their having been placed in the nest.

Gungunyana, C. -F. M. SwYNKERTON.

Melsetter, E-liodesia.
Nov. 0th, 1915.

10. *No. 6S (Administrator's), 1915.]

PROCLAMATION

By the Hon. the Administrator of the Province of

Transvaal,

UNDER and by virtue of the powers vested in me and the
Executive Committee of the Province by sub-section (a) of section
three of the Game Preservation Ordinance, 1905, as amended by

Occasional Notes. 151

the Game Preservation Further Amendment Act 1909, and section
el</7ifi/-o)ie of the South Africa Act 1909, I do hereby proclaim
declare and make known that the annexed Schedule of Game shall
be and is hereby substituted for the Schedule of Game (Parts I
and II) prescribed by Proclamation No, 15 (Administration) of
1910 and Proclamation No. 2 (Administrator's) of 1912, both of
which Proclamations shall be and are hereby withdrawn.

(ioD Savk teik King.

Given under my Hand at Pretoria this Twenty-second day of
December One thousand Nine hundred and Fifteen.

JOHANN RIHSIK,
Administrator of the Province of Transvaal.

SCHEDULE.
Part I.

English Coinmnn Scientific Nomeii'

Numenclatiire. clature.

Guinea-fowl, common Numiila coroiiata.

(^uinea-tbwl, crested Guttera edoiiardi.

Pheasant, red-necked Pternistes swainsoni.

Pheasant, Cape or nois3' Francolin ... Fraiicolinus capensis.

Francoliu, coqui or shrimpy Francolinus coqui.

Francolin, crowned Francolinus sephoena.

Francolin, Orange River Francolinus gariepensis.

Francolin, Shelley's Francoliiius si)elleyi.

Francoliu, Natal F'rancolinus natalensis.

Cape redwing Francolinus levaiilanti.

Cape partridge or greywing Francolinus at'er.

Namaqua partridge Of sandgrouse ... Pteroclurus namaquus.

Sandgrouse, spotted Pterocles variegatus.

Sandgrouse, yellow-tliroated Pterocles guttuialis.

Sandgrouse, double-banded Pterocles bicinctus.

Shoveller, Cape Spatula capensis.

Pochard, South African Nyroca capensis.

Sheldrake, South African Casarca cana.

Duck, white-masked DendrocJ'gna viduata.

Duck, knob-billed Sarcidioruis melanonotus.

Duck, white-backed Thalassornis leuconutus.

Duck, Maccoa Erisniatura maccoa.

Duck, black Anas sparsa.

Teal, red-billed Anas erythrorhyncha.

Teal, yellow-billed Anas undulata.

Teal, Hottentot Anas punctata.

Teal, Cape Anas capensis.

Goose, spur-winged Piectropterus gambensis.

Goose, Egyptifin Chenalopex aegyptiacus.

Goose, African dwarf Nettopus auritus.

Hare, Cape Lepus capensus.

Hare, rock Lepus saxatilis.

Hare, red Lepus crassiciiudat us.

lilesbuck Damaliscus alhifroiis.

Uushbuck Tragelaphus sylvaticus,

11

152 Occasional Notes.

English Common Scientific Nomen-

Nomenclalure. clature.

Duiker Cuphaloplius f^rirnmi.

Duiker, red Ci-'plialophus iiatalensiH.

Kli|)Hi)ringer OreotniKUf) mil tutor.

Orilii .. Ourebia Hcoparia.

I'allul) or rooihuck AopyccroH inelainpus.

Roedbuck Corvicapra arundiuuiu.

Rhebuck, rooi Cervicapra lulvorufula.

Hliebuck, vaal Peloa capreola.

Sbarpe'n Steeiilmck liliapbicerus iriclaiiotiM.

S|)rini;biick Aritidoroas eucboi(!.

Stoeiibuck Rliapbiocrus caiiipestris.

Waterbuck (Jobus ellipsijiryrnuus.

Warthog I'liacyclioerus aetbiopicus.

All imported varieties of game animals and birds.

Pari, TF. iJio (xami;.

lUnf/lish Common Scientj/it; Nomen-

Nomenclature, clature.

Crane, crested ClirysopelarKUS balearica.

Ostricb Strut liio australis.

Antel()i)e, roan Ilippotragus e(iuiini».

Aiit(ib>p(', Hable HipiJofnif^uH nif^er.

Itufbib) HulIcluH cafl'er,

Klaiiil 'riiur()trHj.;u,s oryx.

Eiepbaiit Kiepbas africaiiuH.

(JeiriKbok Oryx pja/.ella.

( Jirafbi Oiralla eiipciiHis.

Ilartebeest, red Kubjibis eiiMiiia.

Hartebeest, Lichenstein iJubabis lii litcnsteiui.

Hippo Ilippopotainus amjiliibius.

Kudu Stn^psiceros kudu.

Rbinoceros libiiioeeros Ijieoriiis.

SaHsaby Danialis(^us lunatuH.

WildebeeKt, blue (V)Miioelio(!tuH tauriiiuH.

Wildebeest, ?)laek (loniiocbootuH jfuu.

Zebra Equus Ijundielli.

11. *No. G7 (Adiiiinistrator's), 1915.]

PROCLAMATION

By the Hon. the Administrator of the Province of

Transvaal.

UNDER and by virtue of the powers vested in mo and tbe
Executive Committee by sub-section (/) of section three of the
Game Preservation Ordinance 1905 as amended by tbe Game
Preservation Further Amendment Act 190!) and section ehjhty-one
of the South Africa Act 1909, I do hereby proclaim, declare and
make known that the birds described in the Schedule hereto shall,
on account of their general utility, be protected and not be hunted

Obituary. 153

or destro3-ed in all districts of the Transvaal Province as from the
date hereof and shall be added to tlie list of general utility birds
and locust destroyers prescribed by Proclamation (Administrators)
No. 20 of 1915.

God Save the King.

Given under my Hand at Pretoria this Twenty-second day of
December One thousand Nine hundred and Fifteen.

JOHANN RISSIK,
Administrator of the Province of Transvaal.

SCHEDULE.
General Utility Birds.

English Common Scictitijic Nomen-
Nomenclatnre. clature.

Bustard, bush Otis ruticrista.

Bustard, Natal Otis harrovi.

Bustard, blue • Otis caerulescens.

Bustard, vaal Otis vigorsi.

Bustard, white-quilled or cackling Otis afroides.

Bustard, black-bellied or silent .; Otis melaiiogaster.

Bustard, Lud wig's Otis ludvigi.

Bustard Stanley Otis cafra.

Bustard kori Otis kori.

XIII. — Obituary .

Major (Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel) Boyd Robeet
HoRSBRUGH, A.S.C., died on July 11 at Oxted, aged 44.
He was the eldest son o£ the late Captain Charles Bell
Horsbrugh, Central India Horse, and entered the Army in
1893, saw service in Sierra Leone in 1898-9 (medal with
clasp), and for service in the South African War received
the Queen's and the King's medals with five clasps. He had
been promoted major in 1908^ and was made temporary
lieutenant-colonel in August, 1915, when he went to the
front in command of a divisional train. He was present at
the battle of Loos, and was mentioned in dispatches.
Colonel Horsbrugh was a well-known ornithologist, a
member of the British and Soulh African Ornithologists'
Unions, and a Fellow of the Zoological Society. He was
the author oF several papers on South African birds and

154 Sliort Notices of Ornithological Publications.

a book on the ' Game-Birds and Water-Fowl of South
Africa/ which was illustrated by C. G. Davies of the
C.M.R. While in South Africa, after the Boer War, he
was stationed at Bloemfontein and at Potchefstroom, and
was known to a number of local residents as a keen orni-
thologist and excellent sportsman. To the members of his
family we extend our heart-felt sympathy.

XIV. — Slwrt Notices of Ornithological Publications.

4. ' The Ibis ' : a Quarterly Journal of Ornithology. April,
July, and October, 1915.

The April number contains part 1 of a paper on the
Ornithology of the Matopo District, S. Rhodesia, by
L. Beresford Mouritz, which is of considerable interest.
It gives us a list of the birds procured or observed, with
excellent field-notes on their habits ; and in many instances
the Sindabele (native) name for the species is appended.
The concluding portion (part 2) appears in the July number.
Mr. C. H. B. Grant continues his paper on the collection of
birds from British East Africa and Uganda presented to
the British Museum by Capt. G. Cozens, with field-notes by
the collector, Mr. Willoughby P. Lowe, part 2 being in the
April number and part 3 in the July number — bringing
the paper up to the end of the Woodpeckers, and making
212 species and subspecies in all. Eleven new subspecies
^re described in the July number, and text-figures are given
of the short-crested and long-crested Turacus groups (i. e.,
T. livingstonii and T. schalowii). The specific name of the
Diedric or Golden Cuckoo is changed from cupreus (i\a^
liame being allocated to the Emerald Cuckoo) to caprius, on
account of this being the spelling employed by Boddaert.
AVhut guarantee has the author of this change of name — that
the name as spelled on d'Aubenton's plate is not a misprint,
anil should have read cupreus in any case ? This everlasting
cluingitig of names on slender evidence, or (like the present

Short jyotices of Ornltliological Puldications. 155

one) the alteration of one letter, is to our mind a wholly
unnecessary proceeding.

In the April number there is also an interesting paper^
entitled " Mixed Bird-parties," by our energetic Vice-
President for Rhodesia, Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton, in which
he gives us his experiences where birds combine together to
form " hunting-parties " for the better and easier obtaining
of their prey.

The July number also contains a paper by D. A. Banner-
man on the birds of the Cameroon Mountains, being the
report on birds collected by the ill-fated Capt. Boyd
Alexander ; this is continued in the October number.

The October number also contains an obituary notice of
R. B. Woosnam, whose name is fairly well known to South
African naturalists by reason of his collections^ made during,
and subsequent to, the Boer War. He came to South Africa
with the 2nd Worcester Regiment, and resigned his com-
mission after the cessation of hostilities, to go on a
collecting-tour with a brother officer, Mr. R. E. Dent, for
the British Museum of Natural History. After his return
to England in 1904 he went on several other tours to th©
Persian Gulf, Equatorial Africa, etc., and returned to South
Africa in 11*09 to explore the Kalahari Desert. In 1910 he
was appointed Game Warden in British East Africa, which
appointment he held until the outbreak of the present War,,
when he rejoined his old regiment at tlie Dardanelles, and
fell on June 4th, 1915, while gallantly leading his men in
the Gallipoli Peninsula. He was 36 years of age at the time
of his death.

.5. ' British Birds,' Vol. ix. June 1915 to May 1916.

This little monthly magazine continues its interesting
articles on English Bird-life, illustiated with the camera.
Miss E. L. Turner, H.M.B.O.U., is to be congratulated on
the photographs illustrating her article on " Wait and See
Photography,^' many of which are works of art, apart from
their interest ornithologically. The April (1916) number
contains a record of a Swallow (Hirimdo r^istica) picked up

156 Movement respecting the Amalgamation

dead by Mr. S. Geo. Amm of Salem, near Grahamstown, on-
February 6th, 1916, bearing a ring with the number 82620
and Witherby, High Holborn, London. This Swallow was
ringed as a nestling by ]\Ir. F. W. Sherwood at Lytham,
Lancashire, on July 3rd, 1915. This is tlie third Swallow
ringed under the ' British Birds ' scheme which has been
recorded from South Africa, the other two having been
previously reported in this journal.

XV. — An Account of the Movement respecting the Amalga-
mation of the S.A. Ornithologists^ Union and the Traiisvaal
Biological Society.

The attached circulars, which speak for themselves, were
sent out to all members, the first one in the beginning of
May, and not one dissentient reply was received. Forty
members wrote agreeing to the proposal, and of these quite
a large proportion supported the proposal with enthusiasm,
giving reasons why they considered the step advantngeous.
The main reasons for this are — firstly, in such a thinly-
populated country as South Africa, ornithology is too limited
a science to expect more than what was being done at
present ; secondly, it was felt that, this being so, it would
be better to convert ourselves into a larger society, with a
much broader scope nnd a much better chance of publishing
a regular journal ; thirdly, that the larger society would
appeal more strongly to the average amateur naturalist in
South Africa, for whom no present society makes adequate
provision at present.

A suggestion was then made that the Transvaal Biological
Society, which has its headquarters in Pretoria and which
has so far met regularly every month, should amalgamate
with the S.A.O.U. to form tlie nucleus of a South African
Natural History or Biological Society. To devise ways and
means to this end a Committee was appointed to discuss the
matter. This Committee drew up certain proposals, and
called a meeting at Maritzburg at the time of the annual
Science Congress in Julv. This Committee consists of

of the S. A. 0. U. and T.B.S. 157

Sir A. Theiler (S.A.O.U. & T.B.S.), Chairman, Messrs. T. B.
Pole-Evans, Dr. Ethel Doidge, A. J. T. .lanse, and 0. K.
Brain representino- the Bioloo-ical Society ; and Messrs.
Ivan Ayres, C. E. Gyde, A. K, Haagner, and Austin Roberts
representing the S.A.O.U.

Printed circulars containing the proposed rules of the
new society have now been posted to all our members, and
we hope that they will give the new venture their hearty
support.

South African Ornithologists' Union.
Sir, —

At the July meeting of the Science Congress in
Pretoria a proposal was made to found an Entomological
Society for South Africa, which I strongly discountenanced,
saying that what was wanted vv'as not multijdication of
societies but rather amalgamation. A Committee was
thereupon elected to go into the pros and cons of the matter,
and an idea was formulated that the South African Orni-
thologists' Union should broaden its scope and change its
name ; then all the mammalogists, herpetologists, and ento-
mologists in the country could join us, and we would have
a strong society, which would be able to publish a regular
<|uarterly journal devoted to the Zoology of South Africa.
Most of the members of the South African Ornithologists'
Union are interested in the science but who are not actually
active workers, so that it seems as if the subject could be
worked up. Please let me have your opinion on the matter,
and say whether you agree or not. It' is the intention of
the Sub-Committee appointed to meet again in the beginning
of July, and to that end I would be obliged for an early
reply to this circular. If I do not hear from you I will
take it that you acquiesce in the suggested alteration of the
Society's name and activities.

Yours faithfully,

A. K. Haagner,

Zoological Gardens, Pretoria. Hon, Secretary.

May 19th, 1916.

1j8 Amalgamation of the S.A.O.U. and T.B.S.

Dear Sir^ —

I beg leave to notify you that at the Maritzburg
Congress o£ the Science Association a meeting was held in
the Town Hall, and the proposals regarding the formation of
a South African Biological and Natural History Society,
such as has already been communicated to you by circular,
were ratified by a unanimous vote of the thirty odd persons
present. The S.A.O.U. were represented by its President
(Sir Arnold Theiler), its Secretary (Mr. A. K. Haagner),
Mr. Kehoe, and the Rev. N. Roberts. A meeting Avas also
held in Durban in the Museum, with our Vice-President for
Natal (Mr. E. C. Chubb), in the chair, and there again the
scheme was heartily endorsed. Your Secretary was also
present at this meeting. It was decided to give the Sub-
Committee appointed at Pretoria — consisting of four
members of the Transvaal Biological Society and four of
the S.A.O.U., with Sir A. Theiler as Chairman — power to
act, subject to their recommendations being cii'cularized
throughout South Africa to all members of the S.A.O.U.
and Biological Society for final approval or otherwise. This
circular will follow in due course. To enable us, however,
to wind up the ajffiairs of the S.A.O.U., I would deem it a
great favour if you would be good enough to send along
your remittance as per account enclosed, and to let me know
what Journals you are short of — if any — so that your series
may be complete.

It is the intention of the new Society to issue a quarterly
Journal of Natural History, commencing probably in January
next ; and to that end I would be glad to receive any papers,
photographs of special interest, or short notes from our
members on any subject of natural history — ornithology in
particular. We trust that our members will continue to
give the new Society all the support they have accorded the
old, and more so. It can become a strong Society wdth some
influence in South Africa, and there is much work for it
to do.

Thanking you for the confidence placed in us, we subscribe
ourselves, Yours very faithfully,

A. Theiler, President.
Pretoria, A. K. HaAGNER, Secret art/.

August 12th, 1916.

NAME INDEX.

A.

Abdima abdimi, 112,

Acrocephalus baticntus, 30.

AcryUium vidturinum, 114.

JEgialitis asiaticus, 11.

mar(finata, 31.

■ pecuaria, 11.

tricollaris, 11.

JE{jithalu& capensis, 18.

African Bee-eatei', 95.

Dwarf Goose, 151.

Hoopoe, 129.

Moor-hen, 113,

Pied Wagtail, 135.

Quail, 113.

Reed-Warbler, 30.

Spoon-bill, 31.

White-rumped Swifi, ]<>,

Afroxyechus, 114.
Alceinon semitnrquata, 14,
Alario alario, 18, 136.

• leneolcejna, 18.

Albatross, Yellow-uosed, I(i9.
Alopochen cBgypt incus, 5.
Alseunax adustn, 131.
Amadifia erythrocephala, 18.
A my drug caffer, 14.

• morio, 128.

Ajias, '21 .

• capensis, 151.

eryihrorhyiica, 12-i, 151.

punctata, 151.

Anas sparsa, 5, 7, 151.

undulata, 123, 151.

Andropadus importunis, 133.

Ant-eating Chat, 14, 134.

A)it/iobaphes violacea, 29, 140,

Anthropoides paradisea, 121.

Anthus correndera, '21.

crenatus, 15,

daviesi, 15.

leucophrys, 27.

vicholsoni, 29.

2}>'ate7isis, 27.

jiyrrhonotiis, 29.

rufulus, 141.

raalteni, 15.

Apalis scita, 18.
Aqnila rapax, 1.
Ardea, 27.

cinerea, 7, 122.

melanocephala, 110.

Artamusfttseus, 100.
Ashy Wood-Swiillow, 100.
.45/0 capensis, 120.
Avocet, 8, 22.

B.

Babbler, 32, 79.

, Layard's Tit-, 18, 29.

, Ued-vented Tit-, 18.

Bacbakiri Shrike, 12, l:V2.
Bar bet, 110.

12

IGO

NAME INDEX.

Jkrbet, Black-collared, 13. j

, Pied, 13. I

, Shelley's, 13. j

Barn-Owl, 4, 120. i

Bar-Tailed Godwit, 19.

Bateleur, 120.

Bearded Woodpecker, 30.

Bee-eater, 96, 98. -

, African, 95.

, European, 15, 95.

, Indian, 95. i

, Swallow-tailed, 15. j

Bishop-Bird, 117.

, Cape, 138. !

, Red, 18. '

, Taha, 29.

Black-and-Grey Cuckoo, 30.

backed Gull, 123.

bellied Bustard, 153.

breasted Bush - AVarblpr,

Eastern, 30.

. Harrier-Eagle, 1.

. . Tit, 18.

Bush-Robin, 132.

collared Barbel, 13.

Crow, 13, 109, 125.

Duck, 5, 7, 151.

fronted Bulbul, 13.

Garbar, 31.

Harrier, 3.

headed Coucal, 127.

Oriole, 130.

necked Heron, 111.

Rough - winged Swallow, 30,

141.

• Saw-wing, 143.

shouldered Kite, 2, 120.

. Stork, 8, 148.

Sun-Bird, 20, 139.

Swift, 16, 30, 144.

tailed Godwit, 19.

Tropic-Bird, 19.

winged Pratincole, 113.

Blacksmith Plover, 113.
Blue-backed Swallow, 142.

Blue-breasted Waxbill, 109.

Bustard, 153.

Crane. 8, 121.

lay, 1 12.

Knorhaan, 10.

Bottle Weaver-Bird, 137.
Bradyornis infuscatiis, 17.
Bronze Cuckoo, 131.
Brown Fly-catcher, 17.

-hooded Kingtisher, 129.

necked Parrot, 114.

Bubo lacteus, 31.

maculosus, 4, 120.

Bubulcus ibis, 112.

Bucorax, 56, 77, 95, 99.

Rutl-backed Egret, 112.

I^ulbul, 92, 93, 95, 96, 109, 133.

, Black-fronted, 13.

, Sombre, 133.

Bunting, 12.

, Cape, 135.

, Common, 18.

, Golden-breasted, 135.

, Lark, 18.

, Rock, 135.

Burchell's Courser, 11, 113.
I Bush Bustard, 153.

Francolin, 110.

j Owl, 120.

I Robin, Black, 132.

j Shrike, 95.

' , Marais's, 29.

I , Tchagra, 132.

Warbler, Ea.steru Black-

j breasted, 30.

I , Green-backed, 18.

I , Yellow - bellied, 18,

I 30.

j Wren, 26.

Bustard, Black-bellied, 153.

, Blue, 153.

, Bush, 153.

, Cackling, 153.

, Kori, 153.

, Lud wig's, 153.

NAME INDEX.

161

Bustard, Natal, 153.

, Silent, 153.

, Stauley, 153.

, White-quilled, 153.

Buteo, 27.

desertorum, 2.

jakal, 2, 120.

Button-Quail, 109, 142.

, Kurrichane, 113.

Buzzard, Jackal-, 2, 120.

, Steppe, 2.

JJi/catiistes, 95.

Cabanis' Thrush, 13.
Cackling Bustard, 153.
Calmidrella sclateri capensis,

15.
Calendula crassirostris, 14.
Campophaga hartlanhi, 29.
Campothera nutatn, 1 29.
Canary, Mountain, 18, 136.
Cape Bishop-Bird, 138,

Bunting, 135.

■ Canary, 135.

Dabchick, 7, 124.

Flycatcher, 130.

Ground-Robin, 18, 133.

- — - Hen, 32.

Partridge, 151.

• Peiiduline Tit, 18.

Pheasant, 151.

Quail, 142.

Red-necked Francolin, 12."

Redwing, 151.

Robin, 18.

Robin-Chat, 132.

. Rock-Thrush, 133.

ShoTeller, 161.

Sparrow, 16.

Sugarbird, 140.

Teal, 151.

Thick-knee, 122.

Thrush, 133,

14,

Cape Turtle-Do ve, 12, 126.

, Red-eyed, 113.

Wagtail, 135.

Weaver-Bird, 137.

White-eye, 136.

AVren-Warbler, 18.

Capped Wheatear, 14, 131.
Caprimulyus, 27.

pedoralis, 130.

Tufigena, 15.

Cardinal Woodpecker, IS.
Casarca cana, 5, 151.
Caspian Plover, 11.
Centropus, 150.

burchelli, 127.

pymi, 31.

superciliosus, 31.

Cerfhilauda rttfula, 14, 29.
Ceryle niaxima, 1 5.

ricdis, 128.

Chaffinch, 28.

Oialcomitra amethystinus, 139.

chalybeus, 139.

Chalcopelia afra, 127.
Chanting Goshawk, 3.
Charadriua, 27.

tricollarius, 122.

varius, 123.

Chat, 12, 110.

, Ant-eating, 14.

, Brown Robin-, 132.

, Cape Rubin-, 132.

, Familiar, 14, 30, 134.

, Layard's, 14.

, Mountain-, 14.

, Noisy Robin-, 1.32.

, Sickle-winged, 14, 30, 134.

, South African, 14.

, Stone-, 134.

Chenalopex eegyptiacus, 123, 151.
Chlorodytajlorisuga, 29.

icteropygi all's, 18.

Chrysococcyx cupreus, 15, 131.

klaasi, 131.

Chrysopelnrgns halearica, 152.

12*

162

NAME INDEX.

Ciconia alba, •^.

ciconia, 1 12.

nt(/7-a, 8, 148.

Cinnamon-backed Pipit, 29.

Dove, 126.

Eoller, 112.

Cinnyris a?netht/stina, 20.

fuscus, 18.

Circaetus pectoralis, 1.
Circus cineraceus, 3, 31.

macrurus, 3.

maurus, .3.

Cisticola natalensis, 29.

terrestris, 29.

tinniens, 29.

Cliff-Swallow, South African, 16,

17, 143.
Coccystes hypopinariiis, 30.

jacobinus, 30.

Coliopasser procne, 138.
Colius capensis, 13, 136.

erythromelon, 13, 136.

striatus, 114, 136.

Columba, 27.

araucania, 27.

arqiiatrix, 126.

/uu'fl, 27.

palumbns, 27.

phaunota, 12, 27, 126.

Coly, South African, 114.
Colymbus cajyensis, 124.
Common Bunting, 18.

Sandpiper, 31.

Spreeuw, 14.

Tern, 19.

Wagtail, 15.

Waxbill, 18, 137.

Coot, Red-knobbed, (i, 7, 121.
Coqui Francolin, 151.
Coracias cuiidatus, 112.

ga7-rulus, 59, 93, 112.

mozambiotis, 112.

— ■ — spatidatus, 112.
Coronettfd Shrike, 12.
Corvultur albicoUis, 13, 119.

Corvus capensis, 13, 125.

scapulatus, 13, 109.

Corythornis cyanostigma, 15, 129.
Cossypha bicolor, 132.

ra/m, 18, 111, 132.

signata, 132.

Cotile paludicola, 17.
Coturniv africana, 11.
Coucal, Black-headed, 127.

, Pym's, 31.

Courser, Burchell's, 113.

, Two-banded, 11, 113.

Crane, Blue, 8, 121.

, Crested, 152.

, Crowned, 114.

, South African Stanley, 114.

Crateropus, 32, 33, 35, 82, 85, 96,
104, 108.

kirki, 79.

Crentophora carunculata, 128.
Creepers, 97.
Crested Crane, 152.

Grebe, Great, 114.

Crombec, 18.

Crow, Black, 13, 109, 125.

, Pied, 13.

Crowned Crane, 114.

Francolin, 151.

Guinea-fowl, 11.

Hornbill, 70, 105.

Lapwing, 11, 113, 122.

Cryptolopha nificapilln, 29.
Cuckoo, 111, 150.

, Black-and-Grey, 30.

, Bronze, 131.

, Didric, 15, 131, 144.

, Diedric, 154.

, Emerald, 154.

, Golden, 154.

, Great Spotted, 144.

, Red-chested, 144.

Shrike, Hartlaub's, 30.

CkcuIus solitarius, 111.
Curlew, 8, 20.
Cursorius rufns, 11, 113.

NAME INDEX.

163

Cyjjselus affinis, 16.

africanus, 16, 141.

barbatus, 16, 29.

caffer, 16, 141.

D.

Dabcliick, Cape, 7, 1 24,
Dark-naped Lark, 14.
Davies' Pipit, 15.
Dendrocygna viduata, 151.
Dendropicus cardinalis, 18.
Dicrocercus hirundineus, 15.
Dicnirus ofer^ 130.
Didric Cuckoo, 15, 131, 144.
Diedric Cuckoo, 154.
Dikkop, 11, 113.

, Water, 113.

Dilophus cnruncidatus, 14.
Diomedea melanophrys, 32.
Diuca Finch, 28.
Diuca grisea, 28.

Double-banded Sand-Grouse, 151.
Dove, Cape Turtle-, 12, 126.

, Cinnamon, 126.

, Emerald-spotted, 127.

, Laughing, 12, 127.

, Namaqua, 12, 127.

, Red-eyed Cape Turtle-, 126.

, Turtle-, 126.

, Senegal, 113.

, Tambourine, 127.

Drongo, 96, 97, 98, 100, 110.

, Fork-tailed, 130.

D)-goscopus ferrugineus, 132.

guttatus, 98.

Duck, Black, 5, 7, 151.

, Knob-billed, 114, 151.

, Maccoa, 151.

, Red-billed, 6.

, White-backed, 151.

, masked, 151.

, Yellow-billed, 123.

Dusky Flycatcher, 131.

E.

Eagle, Black -breasted Harrier-, 1.

, Martial Hawk-, 1.

, Tawny, 1.

Eagle-Owl, Spotted, 4, 120.

Verreaux's, 31.

Eastern Black-breasted Bush- Warb-
ler, 30.

Red-legged Kestrel, 31, 146.

Egret, BufF-backed, 112.

Egyptian Goose, 6, 123, 161.

Kite, 145.

Elanus cceruleus, 2, 120.

Emarginata sinuata, 14, 29, 134.

Emberiza Jlaviventris, 135.

Emerald Cuckoo, 154.

spotted Dove, 127.

Ereviomela Jlaviventris, 18, 29.

Erismatura maccoa, 161.

Erythropygia coryphceus, 18, 110,
133.

Estrilda astiild, 18, 137.

aufresnii, 137.

subflava, 29.

European Bee-eater, 15.

Roller, 112.

Sandpiper, 148.

Swallow, 17, 143.

Eurystomus afer, 112.

Eutolmcetus bellicosus, 1,

Fairy Warbler, 18.
Falco biarmicus, 4.

minor, 4.

Familiar Chat, 14, 30, 134.
Finch, Diuca, 28.

, Hooded Weaver-, 29.

, Red-headed Weaver-, 18.

Fiscal Shrike, 12, 131.
Flamingo, Greater, 31, 121.
Flycatcher, 96, 97, 98, 110.

, Brown, 18.

, Cape, 130.

164

NAME INDEX.

Flycatclier, Dusky, 131.

, Northern Spotted, 145.

, Paradise, 94, 98, 130, 145.

, Pririt, 18.

, Spotted, 18, 30.

Warbler, Yellow-throated,

30.
Forest Weaver-Bird, 138.
Fork-tailed Drongo, 130.
Fraile, South American, 28.
Francolin, 94, 110.

, Bush-, 110.

, Coqui, 151.

, Crowned, 151.

-, Grey-wing-ed, 125.

, Natal, I-') I.

, Noisy, 151.

, Red-necked Cape, 125.

, Red-win}?ed, 125.

', Orange Kiver, 151.

, Shelley's, 151.

, Shrimpy, 151.

Frcmc.oUnus afer, 151.

africanus, 11, 110, 125.

capensis, 151.

coqui, 93, 151.

gariepensis, 150, 151.

hildebrandti altumi, 113.

levaillanti, 11, 125, 151.

sephoena, 151.

shelleyi, 151.

Fringillaria capensis, 18, 135.

impetuani, 18.

tahapisi, 135.

Fruit-Pigeon, Green, 126.
Fulica, 27.

atra, 27.

cristatn, G, 7, 27, 124,

• gigantea, "11 .

G.

Gallinago, 27.
Gallintila, 27.
cjihropus 124,

Gallinula chloropus meridionalis, 113.
Garbar, Black, 31.
Geocolaptes olivaceus, 13, 129.
Giant Kingfisher, 15, 128.
Glareola fusca, 113.

melanopiera, 113.

Glossy Starling, 109, 128.
Godwit, Bar-tailed, 19.

, Black-tailed, 19.

(xolden-breasted Bunting, 135.

Cuckoo, 154.

GoDse, African Dwarf, 151.

, Egyptian, 5, 123.

, Spur-winged, 151.

Goshawk, Chanting, 3.

(irass- Warbler, Levaillant's, 30.

, Natal, 30.

, Wren, 30.

Great Crested Grebe, 114.

Spotted Cuckoo, 144.

Greater Flamingo, 31, 121.

Kestrel, 3.

Puff-backed Shrike, 132.

Stripe-breasted Swallow, 143.

Grebe, Great Crested, 114.

, Little, 124.

Green-backed Bush- Warbler, 18.

Fruit-Pigeon, 126.

Greenshauk, 8.
Grey-backed Lark, 14.

collared Lark, 14.

headed Sparrow, 16.

Heron, 7, 122.

Lourie, 110.

winged Francolin, 125.

(ireywing Partridge, 11, 12.
Giound-Hornbill, 77, 92.

Robin, Cape, 18, 133.

Thrush, 110.

Woodpecker, 13, 129.

Grouse, Namaqua Sand-, 12.
Guinea-fowl, 26, 94, 110.

, Common, 151.

■ , Crested, 151.

, Crowned, 11,

KAME INDEX.

165

Guinea-fowl, Yulturine, 114.
(tuII, Black-backed, 123.
(riittera edouardi, 151.
(^Ti/ps kolbii, 119.

H.

Hadadah Ibis, 124.

Halcxjon alhiventris, 129.

ci/anoleiicus, 67, 93.

Ilauimerhead, 123.

Hamnierkop, 6, 7.

Haplopelia larvata, 126.

Harlequin Quail, 113, 142.

Harrier, Black, 3.

Eagle, Black-breasted, 1.

, Montagu's, 3, 31.

, Pale, 3.

Hartlaub's Cuckoo-Shrike, 30.

Hawk-Eagle, Martial, 1.

Helotarsus ecaudatus, 120.

Hemipode, Natal, 31.

Hemiiiteryx minuta, 29.

Heron, lio,

, Black-necked, 111.

, Grey, 7, 122.

, White-backed, 122.

Jlirundo, 27.

albiyiilaris, 17, 140.

cucullata, 17, 140.

dimidiata, 140.

puella, 106, 140.

rustica, 17, 106, 155.

Honey-Guide, Yellow-throated, 131.
Hooded Weaver-Finch, 29.
Hoopoe, African, 129.

, Wood-, 32, 36, 57,94, 97, 105,

110, 129.
Hoplopterus, 28.

speciosus, 113.

Hornbill, 32, 110.

, Crowned, 70, 105.

, Ground-, 77, 92.

, Yellow-billed, 57.

Hottentot Quail, 142.

Hottentot Teal, 151.
ITyphantornis, 114.
celatus, 18, 137,

I.

Ibis, 114.

, Hadadah, 124.

, Sacred, 22, 114.

, Wood-, 31, 114.

Indian Bee-eater, 95.

Swift, 16.

Indicator major, 131.
Irrisor, 32, 49, 97, 101, 102, 106,
107, 108.

erytJirorhynchus, 32.

viriditi, 129.

Jackal-Buzzard, 2, 120.

Jay, 112.

, jLjlue, 112.

K.

Kestrel, Eastern lied - legged, 31,
146.

, Greater, 3.

, Lesser, 3, 31.

, Naumann's, 145, 146.

, South African, 3.

Kiugtisher, 57, 59, 93, 94.

, Brown-hooded, 129.

, Giant, 15, 128.

, Malachite, 15. 129.

, Tied, 128.

King Reed-Hen, 31.
Kite, 97, 98.

, Black-shouldered, 2, 120.

, Egyptian, 145.

, Yellow-billed, 2, 31, 120.

Kittlitz's Sand-Plover, 11.
Knob-bill Duck, 114, 151.
Knorhaan, Blue, 10,

166

NAME INDEX.

Knorhaan, Vaal, 10.

, White-quilled, 3, 10.

Knysna Plantain-Eater, 127.

Woodpecker, 129.

Korhaan, lliieppell's, 110.
Kori, Bustard, 15-3.
Kurrichane Button-Quail, 113.

Lagonosticta ruhricata, 137.
Lamprocolius phoenicopterus, 128.
Laniarius gutfuralis, 12, 132.

maraisi, 29.

Lanius, 27, 94.

coUa7-is, 12, 131.

huineralis, 93.

collurio, 12.

sttbcoronatus, 12.

Lanner, South African, 4.
Lapwing, Crowned, 11, 113, 122.
Large Yellow-tufted Pipit, 1.5.
Larger Stripe-breasted Swallow, 17,

140.
Lark, 117.

Bunting, 18.

, Dark-naped, 14.

, Grey-backed, 14.

, collared, 14.

, Long-billed Rufous, 29.

, Red-capped, 14.

, Thick-billed, 14.

Larus doniinicanus, 123.
Laughing Dove, 12, 127.
Layard's Chat, 14.
— Tit-Babbler, 18, 29.
Leptoptilus crumeniferm, 31.
Lesser Double - collared Sunbird,

139.

Kestrel, 3, 31.

Seed-eater, 18.

Stripe-breasted Swallow, 140.

Levaillant's Grass- Warbler, 30.
Limosa lapponica, 19.
limosa, 19.

Little Grebe, 124.

Pinc-pinc Warbler, 30.

Stint, 8, 147.

Longclaw, Orange- throated, 141.
Long-billed Rufous Lark, 14, 29

tailed Willow-Bird, 138.

Lophoceros, 32, 77, 95.

• — - leucomelas, 56, 57, 78, 99, 102.

melanoleucus, 67, 70, 78, 97,

101,103, 104.
Lourie, (irey, 110.
Ludwig's Bustard, 153.
Lyhius torquatus, 13.

M.

Maccoa Duck, 151.
Macronyx capensis, 141.
Majaqueus aquinoctialis, 32.
Malachite Kingfisher, 15, 129.

Sun-bird, 18, 139.

Marais's Bush-Shrike, 29.
Marobou, 31.
Marsh-Owl, 120.

Sandpiper, 8.

Martial Ilawk-Eagle, 1.
Martin, Rock-, 141.

, South African Rock-, 17.

, Sand-, 17.

Masked Weaver, 18, 137.
Meadow-Pipit, 27.
Meliei'ax canorus, 3.

niger, 31.

Melittophagus huUockoides, 95.

meridionalis, 95.

Merops apiaster, 15, 95.

leschenaulti, 95.

persicus, 95.

viridis, 95.

Milvus eegyptius, 2, 31, 120.
MoUymawk, 32.
Montagu's Harrier, 3, 31,
Monticoloi- explorata, 134.

rupestns, 133.

Moorhen, 124, 150.

NAME INDEX.

167

Moorhen, African, 113.
Mosilikatza's Roller, 112.
Mossie, South African, 28.
Motacilla, 27.

capensis, 15, 135.

vidua, 15, 135.

Mountain Canary, 18, 136.

Chat, 14.

Quail, 142.

Mousebird, Red-faced, 13, 136.

, Speckled, 136.

, White-back, 13, 136.

Musicapa grisola, 18, 29.
Myrmecocichla forinicivora, 14, 134.

N.

Natal Bustard, 153.

Fraucolin, 151.

Grass- Warbler, 30.

Ilemipode, 31.

Namaqua Dove, 12, 127.

I'artridge, 151.

Sand-Grouse, 12.

Naumann's Kestrel, 145, 146.
Nectarinia fainosa, 139.
Nettoptis auritus, 151.
Nicholson's Pipit, 29.
Nightjar, Rufous-cheeked, 15.

, South African, 130.

Noisy Francolin, 151.

Robin-Chat, 132.

Northern Spotted Flycatcher, 145.
Numenius, 22.

arquatus, 8, 20.

Niimida coronata, 11, 151.
Nycticorax leucorwtus, 122.
JSyrocu capensis, 151.

0.

G'jlicnemus capensis, 11, 113, 122.

vei-miculatns, 113, 122.

(Kna capetisis, 12, 127.
Olive Pigeon, 126.

Orange-breasted Sun-bird, 29, 1 40.

Waxbill, 29.

River Francolin, 151.

throated Longclaw, 141.

Oriole, Black-headed, 130.
Oriolus larvatus, 130.
Ostrich, 152.
Otis afroides, 3, 10, 153.

barrovi, 153,

ccerulescens, 10, 153.

cafra, 10, 153.

kori, 153.

Indvigi, 153.

vielanog aster, 153.

rttficrista, 153.

vigorsi, 10.

Otogyps auricularis, 119.
Owl, 107.

, Barn-, 4, 120.

,Bush-, 120.

, Marsh-, 120.

, Verreaux's Eagle-, 31.

, Scops, 121.

, Spotted Eagle-, 4, 120.

Paauw A^eld, 10.
Pachy])rora capensis, 130.

pririt, 18.

Pale Harrier, 3.

White-eye, 18.

winged Starling, 13, 14.

Paradise Flycatcher, 94, 98, 130,
145.

Widow-Bird, 29.

Parisovia layardi, 18, 29,

subccendeum, 18.

Parrot, 114.

, Brown-necked, 114.

Partridge, Cape, 151.

, Grey wing, 11, 13.

, Naniaqua, 151.

, Redwing, 11.

rams, 27.

168

NAMK INDEX.

Partis afer, 18.
Passer, 28.

arctiatus, 16.

diffusuSj 16.

Pearl-breasted Swallow, 140.
Peewit, 28.

Pendiiline Tit, Cape, 18.
Peregrine, South African, 4.
Perissornis caruncnlatus, 112.
Petrochelidon spilodera, 16, 17.
Phaeton lepturus, 19.

ruhricanda, 19.

Pheasant, Cape, 151.

, Red-necked, 151.

Phoenicopterus roseus, 31, 121.
P/iyllastrephus, 33, 96, 97.
Phylloscopus trochilus, 29.
PiedBarbet, 13.

Crow, 13.

Kingfisher, 128.

Spreeuw, 14.

Starling, 128.

Wagtail, 15.

, African, 135.

I'igeon, Green Fruit-, 126.

, Olive, 126.

, Rock-, 126.

, Speckled, 12.

Pinc-piiic Warbler, Little, 30.
Pin-tailed Whydah, 138.

Widow-Bird, 18.

Pipit, Cinnamon-backed, 29.

• , IJavies', 15.

, Large Yellow-tufted, 15.

, Meadow-, 27.

, Nicholson's, 29.

, Tawny, 15, 141.

Plantain-eater, Knysna, 127.
Platalea alba, 31.
Plcctrojiterus gambensis, 151.
Plover, Blacksmith, 113.

, Caspian, 11.

, Kittlitz's Sand-, 11.

, Ring-, 148.

, Sand-. 123.

Plover, Three-banded, 11, 122.

, Treble-collared Sand-, 114.

, White-fronted Sand-, 31.

Pochard, South African, 124, 151 .
Podicipes capensis, 7.

ovist atns iyifuscattts, 114.

Pcecilonetta erythrorhyncha, 6.
Poicephalus fuscicollis, 114.
Poliospira gularis, 136.
Porphyrio madagascariensis, 31.
Pratincola torquata, 14, 134.
Pratincole, Black-winged, 113.

, Red-winged, 113.

Prinia maculosa, 18.
Pririt Flycatcher, 18.
Proinerops capensis, 140.
Psalidoprocne holomelcena, 29, 141.
Pfteudotnntahis ibis, 31.
Pternistes nudicollis, 1 25.

srvainsoni, 151.

Pterocles bicinctus, 151.

gutturalis, 151.

variegatus, 151.

Pteroclui'us namaqua, 12.

namaquus, 151.

Ptyonojjrocne fuUguia, 141.
Ptyonoprogne fidigula, 17.
Puff-back Shrike, 91, 98.

backed Shrike, Grreater, 132.

Purple Roller, 112.
Pycnonotus, 92, 96.

cape?isis, 133.

layardi, 100.

nigricans, 13.

Pym's Coucal, 31.
Pyromelana capensis, 138.

oryx, 18.

taha, 29.

Pi/rrhulauda australis, 14.
verticalis, 14.

I Q.

I Quail, 11.

j , African, 113.

I , Button-, 109,1-12.

NAME INDEX.

1G9

Quail, Cape, 142.

, Harlequin, 113, 142.

, Hottentot, 142.

, Kurrichane Button-, 113.

, Mountain, 142.

R.

Racquet-tailed Roller, 112.
Raven, White-necked, 13, 119.
Recurvirvstrn avocetta, 8.
Red-backed Shrike, 12.

billed Duck, 6.

Teal, 124.

Bishop-bird, 18.

capped Lark, 14.

chested Cuckoo, 144.

-eyed Cape Turtle-l)ove, 113.

Turtle-Dove, 126.

faced 31ouse-bird, 13, loO.

headed Weaver-Finch, 18.

knobbed Coot, 6, 124.

legged Eastern Kestrel, 31,

146.

-necked Cape Francolin, 125.

Pheasant, 151.

->houldered Widow-Bird, 139.

tailed Tropic- Bird, 19.

-vented Tit-Babbler, 18.

winged Francolin, 125.

Pratincole, 113.

Starling, 128.

Redwing, Cape, 161 .

Partridge, 11.

Reed-Hen, King, 31.

Warbler, African, 30.

Rhiuoptilus africanuSf 11, 113.
Ring-Plover, 148.
Robin, 111.

, Black Bush-, 132.

, Cape, 18.

, Ground-, 18, 133.

— - -Chat, Cape, 132.

, Noisy, 132.

Rock-Bunting, 135.

Rock-Martin, 141.

, South African, 17.

Pigeon, 126.

Thrush, Cape, 133.

, Sentinel, 134.

Roller, 50, 93, 94.

, Cinnamon, 112.

, European, 112.

, Mosilikatza's, 112.

, Purple, 112.

, Racquet-tailed, 112.

Rough- winged Swallow, Black, 30.
Ruddy Waxbill, 137.
Rueppell's Korhaan, 110.
Rufous-eared Wren- Warbler, 18.

cheeked Nightjar, 15.

Long-billed Lark, 14, 29.

Siicred Ibis, 22, 114.
Sand-Martiu, South African, 17.
Sand-Plover, 123.

, Kittlitz's, 11.

, Treble-collared, 114.

, White-fronted, 31.

Sauderling, 148.

Saudgrouse, Double-banded, 151.

■, Spotted, 151.

, Namaqua, 12.

, Yellow-throated, 151.

Sandpiper, Common, 31.

, European, 148.

, Marsh-, 8.

, Wood-, 8, 32, 148.

Sandwich-Tern, 32.
Sdrcidiornis melatwnotus, 161.

afi'tcatms, 114.

Saw-wing, Black, 143.
Suxicola, 27.

familiarts, 14, 29, 134.

layardi, 14.

monticola, 14.

jnleata, 14, 134.

Scaly-feathered Weaver-Bird, 18.

170

NAME INDEX.

Scops capensis, 121.
Scops Owl, 121.
Scopus umhretta, 6, 7, 123.
Secretary-Bird, 5, 121.
Seed-eater, Lesser, 18.

, Streaky-headed, 136.

, White - throated, 18,

136.
Seed-eaters, 12.
Senegal Dove, 113.
Sentinel Rock-Thrush, 134.
Serinus alhigularis, 18, 136.

canicollis, 135.

■ marBhalli, 18.

Serpentarius sea-etarms, 5, 121.
Shelduck, South African, 5, 151.
Shelley's Barbet, 13.

Francolin, 151.^

Shoveller, Cape, 151.
Shrike, 88, 93.

, Bakhakiri, 12, 132.

, Bush-, 95.

, Ooronetted, 12.

, Fiskal, 12, 131.

. , Greater Puff-backed, 132.

, Hartlaub's Cuckoo-, 30.

, Marais's Bush-, 29.

, Puff -back, 91, 98.

, Red-backed, 12.

, Tchagra Bush-, 132.

Shrimpy Francolin, 151.
Sickle-winged Chat, 14, 30, 134.
Silent Bustard, 153.
Sitagra capensis, 137.

■ gregalis, 138. ,

ocularia, 137.

Sombre Bulbul, 133.
Song-Sparrow, South American, 28.
South African Cliff-Swallow^, 16, 1 7,

143.

Coly, 114.

Stanley Crane, 114.

. Hoopoe, 15.

. Kestrel, 3.

Lanner, 4.

South African Mossie, 28.

Nightjar, 130.

Peregrine, 4.

Pochard, 124, 151.

Rock-Martin, 17.

Sand-Martin, 17.

Shelduck, 5, 151.

Stone-Chat, 14.

White-bellied Swift, 16.

South American Fraile, 28,

Song-Sparrow, 28.

Sparrow, 12, 28, 109.

, Cape, 16.

, Grey-headed, 16.

, South American Song-, 28,

Spatula capensis, 151.
Speckled Mouse-bird, 136.

Pigeon, 12.

Spermestes scutatus, 29.
Spiloptila ocularia, 18.
Spoon-bill, African, 31.
Sjwi'opipes squamifrons, 18.
Spotted Cuckoo, Great, 144.

Eagle-Owl, 4, 120.

Flycatcher, 18, 30.

, Northern, 145.

Sandgrouse, 151.

Spreeuw, Common, 14.

, Pied, 14.

Spreo biculor, 14, 128, 131.
Spur- winged Goose, 151.
Stanley Bustard, 153.
Starling, Glossy, 109, 128.

, Pale-winged, 14.

, Pied, 128.

, Red- winged, 128.

, Wattled, 14, 112, 128.

Sfephanibyx, 28.

coronatus, 11, 113, 122,

Steppe Buzzard, 2.
Sterna cantiaca, 32.

Jluviatilis, 19.

Stigmatopelia, 113.

Stilt, 22.

Stint, Little, 8, 147,

NAME INDEX.

171

Stone-Chat, 134.
Stork, Black, 8, 148.

.White, 8, 112, 140,147.

, bellied, 112.

Streaky-headed Seed-?ater, lo6.

Sfreptopelia, 113.

Stripe-breasted Swallow, Greater,

143.

, Larger, 140.

, Lesser, 140, 143.

Strix Jlammea, 4, 120.
Struthio australis, 152.
Sugarbird, Cape, 140.
Sunbird, Black, 20, 139.

, Double-collared. T,esser, 139.

, Malachite, 18, 139.

, Orano:e-breasted, 29, 140.

White-vented, 18.

Swallow, 94, 96, 98, 155.

, A.-hy Wood-, 100.

, Black Hough - winged, 30,

141.

, Blue-backed, 142.

■, Juiropean, 17, 143.

, Greater Stripe-breasted, 143.

, Larger Stripe - breasted, 17,

140.
, Lesser Stripe - breasted, 140,

143.

, Pearl-breasted, 140,

, South African Cliff-, 16, 17,

143.

tailed Bee-eater, 15.

, White-throated, 17, 140, 142.

Swift, African White-rumped, 16.

, Black, 16, 30, 144.

, Indian, 16.

, South African White-bellied,

J (3.

, White-bellied, 141, 142-

, rumped, 141.

, African, 16.

Swee Waxbill, 137.
Swenipi, 93.
Sylviella rufescens, IS.

Si/niiian, 107.

froodfordi, 120.

Taha Bishop-Bird, 29.
Tambourine Dove, 127.
Tarsif/er silens, 132.
Tawny Eagle, 1.

i'ipit, 15, 141.

Tchagra Bash-Shrike, 132.
Teal, Cape, 151.

, Hottentot, 151.

, Red-billed, 124, 151.

, Yellow-billed, 151.

Telephonus, 32, 98.

tchagra, 132.

Tephrocorys cinerea, 14.
Tern, Common, 19.

, Sandwich-, 32.

Terpsiphone perspmllata, 130.
Tetrapteryx paradisea, 8.
Thnlasnornis leiiconofus, 151.
'I heristicus hayedash, 124.
Thick-billed Lark, 14.
Thick-knee, 113.

, Cape, 122.

, Water, 122.

Three-banded Plover, 11, 122.
Thresktornis, 114.
lliripias namaquus, -30.
Thrush, 23, 27.

, Cabanis', 13.

, Cape, 133.

, — Ptock-, 133.

, Ground-, 110.

, Sentinel Rock-, 134.

Tmnimculus, 27.

naumanni, 3, 31.

■ ■ rujncoloides, 3.

rupicolus, 3.

Tits, 97.

Tit- Babbler, Layard's, 18, 29.

, Red-vented, 18.

, Black-breasted, 18.

172

NAME INDEX.

Tit, Cape Penduline, 18.
Totamis (jlareola, 8, 32.

glottis, 8.

■ Jn/poleucus, 31.

stiu/natilis, 8.

Treble-collared Sand-Plover, 114.
Tricholcsma affinis, 13.

leucomelas, 13.

Tringa mimda, 8.
Tropic-Biid, Black-tailed, 19.

, Red-tailed, 19.

Turacus corgthaixj 127.

livingstonii, 154.

schalowii, 154.

Turdus, 26.

cabanisi, 13.

falklandicus, 26.

musicus, 26.

olivaceus, 133.

Turnix lepurana, 142.

nana, 31.

Tiirtle-Dove, Cape, 12, 126.

, Red-eyed, 126.

Turtur, 27.

capicola, 12, 126.

semitorquatus, 126.

■ senegulensis, 12, 127.

Two-banded Courser, 11, 113.
Ignipantstria tympanistria, 127.

U.

Upupa africana, 15, 129.
Urceginthus angolensis, 109.

bengalus, 109.

Urohrachya axillaris, 139.

V.

Vaal Knorbaan, 10.

Vannellus cayennensis, 28.

vulgaris, 28.

Veld Paauw, 10.
Verreaux's Eagle-Owl, 3]»

Vidua paradisea, 29..

Vidua principalis, 18, 138.
Vinago delalandii, 126.
Vulture, Black, 119.

, Common, 119.

Vulturine Guinea-Fowl, 114.

W.

Wagtail, African Pied, 135.

, Cape, 135.

, Common, 15.

, Pied, 15.

Warbler, 97.

, African Reed-, 30.

, Cape Wren-, 18.

, Eastern Black-breasted Bush-,

30.

, Fairy, 18.

, Green-backed Bush-, 18.

, Levaillant's Grass-, 30.

, Little Pinc-pinc, 30.

, Natal Grass-, 30.

, Rufous-eared Wren-, 18.

, Wren-, 110.

, Grass-, 30.

, Yellow-bellied Bush-, 18, 30.

, throated Flycatcher-,

30.
Water Dikkop, 113.

Thick-knee, 122.

Wattled Starling, 14, 112, 128.
Waxbill, 139.

, Blue-breasted, 109.

, Common, 18, 137.

, Orange-breasted, 29.

, Ruddy, 137.

, Swee, 137.

Weaver, 94, 117, 150.

Bird, Bottle, 137.

, Cape, 137.

, Forest, 138.

, Masked, 18, 137.

■ , Scaly-feathered, 18, ;

Finch, Hooded, 29.

. , Red-headed, 18.

NAME INDEX.

173

Wheatear, Capped, 14, 134.
White-backed Duck, 151.

Heron, 122.

Mouse-bird, 13, 13n.

White-bellied South African Swift,

16.

Stork, 112.

Swift, 141, 142.

eye. Cape, 136.'

- ^ , Pale, 18.

fronted Sand-Plover, 31.

masked Duck, 151.

necked Raven, 13, 119.

quilled Bustard, 153.

Knorhaan, 3, 10.

rumped African Swift, 16, ] 7.

Swift, 141.

Stork, 8, 112, 146, 147.

throated Seed-eater, 18, 136.

Swallow, 17, 140, 142.

vented Sun-bird, 18.

Whydah, 94.

, Pin-tailed, 138.

Widow-Bird, Long-tailed, 138.

, Paradise, 29.

• , Pin-tailed, 18.

, Red-shouldered, 139.

Willow- Wren, 29.

Wood-IIoopoe, 32, 36, 57, 94, 98,

105, 129.

Ibis, 31, 114.

Sandpiper, 8, 32, 148.

Wood-Swallow, Ashy, 100.
Woodpecker, 110, 154.

, Bearded, 30.

, Cardinal, 18.

, Ground-, 13, 129.

, Knysna, 129.

Wren, Bush-, 26.

Grass- Warbler, 30.

Warbler, 110.

, Cape, 18.

, Rufous-eared, 18.

, Willow-, 29.

Y.

Yellow-bellied Bush - Warbler, 18,

30.

billed Duck, 123.

Hornbill, 57.

Kite, 2, 31, 120.

Teal, 151.

nosed Albatross, 109.

throated Flycatcher-Warbler,

30.

Honey Guide, 131.

Sandgrouse, 151.

Z.

Zonotrichia pileata, 28.
Zoster ops capensis, 136.
jmllida, 18.

PBI.ML-l) BV TAYJ.OR AMj KR.4NCIS, KEU MON CODRT, FLEET STKEKT, E.G.

Vol. XI. No. 1. DECEMBER 1915. Price 7s.

THE JOURNAL

■ OF THE

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AND

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CONTENTS.

I. The Birds of Pliilipstown, Cape Province, with Notes on their Habits.

By H. Leighton Hare '■

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Museum •

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distinctive Family Traits. By Ambrose A. Lane 25

Y. Birds of the Kaffrarian Frontier. By Fk.vnk A. O. Pym, Curator, King

Williams Town Museum 29

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MEMBERS OF COUNCIL
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Austin Roberts. (Transvaal.)
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Dr. J. E. Briscoe. (Natal.)
Rev. S. S. Dornan, M.A. (Rhodesia.)
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P. A, Sheppard. (Portuguese S.E. Africa.)

Vol. XI. No. 2. DiSCEKBEK 1S16. Price 7s.

THE JOURNAL

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EDITED BY

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Hon. Mem. Royal Hungarian Bureau of Ornithology,

CONTENTS.

Page
X. Obserrations on the Birds of the Di.strict of Humansdorp, Cape

Province. By B. A. Masterson 119

XI. The Summer Migration of 1915-16 as observed in the Eastern Districts

of the Capo Province. By Rev. RoBEia- Godfrey, Somerville, Tsolo ... 142

XII. Occasional Notes 148

XIII. Obituary : Major (Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel) Boyd Robert Hors-

BRUGH, A.S.C 153

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XV. An Account of the Movement respecting tlie Amalgamation of the S.A.

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Name Index •. 159

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The Editors invite contributions on South African Orni-
thology from all students. These should, if possible, be type-
written.

Drawings (which, for the purpose of ease of reproduction,
should be, as far as possible, in line and without wash)
and photographs from nature will be gladly welcomed.
Original MSS., drawings, and photographs will, if desired,
be returned, after publication, to their owners.

The Editors will be pleased to receive from contributors
short extracts from concurrent literature or accounts of the
Meetings of Associations dealing with South African Orni-
thology or of general interest to Members.

All documents intended for publication should be for-
warded to A. Haagner, Esq., Transvaal Zoological Gardens,
Pretoria.

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subject, of course, to there being sufficient matter suitable
for publication.

Fifteen copies of every paper published in the Journal will
be reserved for the author free of charge.

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ability, through the medium of this Journal, any questions
relating to ornithological matters, and to identify ornitho-
logical specimens submitted to them.

In cases where an immediate answer is required, a reply
will be forwarded through the post if a stamped addressed
envelope is enclosed with the enquiry.

The Editors respectfully draw attention to the necessity
for support to the Illustration Fund, and invite subscriptions
thereto.

THE SOOTH AFRICAN ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION.

PRESIDENT.

Sir A. Theiler, V.D., K.C.M.G.

(Director Union Veterinary Research, Pretoria.)

VICE-PRESIDENTS.

Dr. L. Peringuey, F.E.S., Director S.A. Museum, Cape To-htq,

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MEMBERS OF COUNCIL.
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Rev. S. S. Dornan, M.A. (Rhodesia.)
J. P. Murray. (Basutoland.)
P. A. Sheppard. (Portuguese S.E. Africa.)

55

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