120 VIEW OF THE ANIMAL CREATION AT THE CAPE. 



obtained at this place. The latter uttered the most horrid 

 screams that can be imagined. I believe it has not yet been 

 described. The beak is black ; the ridge of the upper mandi- 

 ble, and the upper part of the toes, red ; head, neck, and ab- 

 domen cinereous blue ; wing- and tail-feathers deep violet- 

 blue; back-feathers green, edged with dusky brown; shoulders 

 and covering feathers of the wings of a metallic lustre and 

 iridescent. The mountain goose, the Egyptian goose, and 

 the mountain duck were seen in considerable numbers. The 

 last species answers to the description of the cana ; but there 

 seems to be a mistake in giving the white head to the male, 

 which is found only in the female. Several other aquatic 

 birds were met with about the Sea-Cow River, attracted thi- 

 ther, no doubt, by the vast quantities offish that it contained. 

 Of these, a species of Cyprinus, of a silvery colour, was the 

 most common ; and we caught also a species of Silurus. The 

 most remarkable of the birds were the Platalea leucorodia 

 or white spoonbill, the great white pelican, and the flamingo. 

 We saw also the common crane ( Grus), the Numidian crane 

 (Virgo), and the heron (cinerea) ; the bald ibis (calvus), the 

 Cape curlew, and the common coot. 



" In the neighbourhood of such places as are most frequented 

 by graminivorous animals, the carnivorous tribe are, as might 

 naturally be expected, the most abundant. The peasantry 

 were however much surprised that no more than one lion had 

 been seen by the party among the reedy banks of the Sea- 

 Cow River, a part of the country that has at all times been 

 considered as particularly infested by this animal, and where 

 they are also of a much larger size, as well as of a fiercer tem- 

 per, than those of the lower parts of the colony. The people 

 of Sneuwberg are great sufferers from their frequent visits, 

 particularly in their horses, to the flesh of which, after that 

 of a hottentot, the lion seems to give a decided preference. 

 The farmers here have a kind of dog that is not afraid to at- 

 tack a lion, and it is said that instances have occurred wherein 

 two of these together have been able to destroy him. This 

 domestic animal is as large but not so strongly made as the 

 Newfoundland dog, of a dark cinereous brown, with black and 

 ferruginous stripes, a long straight tail, long pendulous ears, 

 and spurious toes on the hind legs. Of tigers, as they are 

 called in the colony, the peasantry distinguish two sorts, the 

 tiger of the mountains, and the tiger of the plains. Of the 

 first, the upper part of the body and exterior part of the legs 

 are of a fallow ground, with irregular black spots, some cir- 

 cular, some lunated, and others ocellated; in some parts 

 distinct, in others running together in clusters ; the sides, 



