320 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 



shy to seize the red handkerchiefs from the head of the 

 coloured people, taking [it, on account of the red colour, by 

 mistake for meat. The Aquila vulturina is very rare here, 

 of which we only saw a few ; it is a very shy bird, of a noble 

 appearance and of great courage. I witnessed one day, with 

 a Hottentot servant, on the Cedar Mountains, one of 

 these birds attacking a tiger, or Cape leopard. We were 

 standing on a precipice, looking down below, when the 

 eagle drove the leopard back into its retreat in the rocks. 

 The best way of shooting this bird, is by hunting with dogs 

 in those mountains, as it is sure he will soon follow the 

 party on the wing above their heads, in order to catch the 

 hare, rabbit, or buck, which are started from their cover 

 before the dogs catch them. They are more numerous in 

 the Cedar Mountains, where we obtained eleven specimens 

 by that mode of hunting. 



We met, for the first time, the Coracias Angolensis ? along 

 the banks of the Caledon River. It is a fine bird, of a light 

 blue colour, and is smaller than our jay. It feeds principally 

 upon locusts and ants. A large species of Ibis lives also 

 about the river; we received one specimen from a farmer, 

 who shot it with a bullet, on account of its being so very 

 shy, by which mode it was much damaged. Its principal 

 colour is white, with black-tipped wings. It much resembles 

 a stork, seen at a distance, from which it is however easily 

 distinguished by its curved bill and short legs. 1 have seen 

 once on the Stormbergen, about 6000 feet elevation, a con- 

 siderable number of these birds ; they were feeding on 

 locusts, with which that country swarmed at that time. 



The parties, who were waiting on both banks of the Cale- 

 don River for its fall, to a suitable depth, became every day 

 more numerous, and the neighbouring plains, which are exten- 

 sive, were filled with thousands of cattle and sheep ; some 

 belonging to emigrant and travellers, others to traders, who 

 brought them from the interior for the markets at Graham's 

 Town or Algoa Bay. Some of our neighbours, in order to 



