68 A NATURALIST IN THE TRANSVAAL. 



somewhat surprising to find that man alone was not the 

 only migrant. My earliest English schoolboy days w r ere 

 recalled when I caught the Convolvulus Hawk-Moth 

 (Protoparce convolvuli), bred the Death's-head Moth 

 (Acherontia atropos), or gazed upon the numbers of the 

 Painted Lady (Pyrameis cardui] ; whilst an earlier friend 

 than all appeared with the summer rains. The Crim- 

 soned-speckled Moth (Dciopeia pulchella) was a very 

 old acquaintance. 1 had caught it in Surrey, met with 

 it again in the Malay Peninsula, received it from 

 Mogador, and now at the other end of Africa found it 

 somewhat an abundant insect. The time of its appear- 

 ance in the Transvaal is very protracted. I first cap- 

 tured it at the end of September, and found it still 

 active on leaving the country in the following July. 

 Flying in the strong sunlight, I have often mistaken it 

 for a large Lyccenid, as the pale azure-blue of the poste- 

 rior wings is wonderfully reflected, and the red and 

 black spots of the anterior wings are, during flight, 

 scarcely, if at all, visible. Its flight is short and it is 

 easily captured. 



It was very soon after my arrival that I first saw the 

 Secretary-bird (Serpentarius secretaries), that well-known 

 African snake-eater of which we have all read. It is 

 generally believed, and I was assured as a fact, that a 

 50 fine was inflicted for killing one of these birds ; but 

 in the Transvaal, as elsewhere, I soon found that the 

 " vox populi ' must be taken " cum grano sails." I 

 enquired of several well-informed men, including a 

 newspaper editor, who stated that such was the fact ; 

 but at last I induced a friend on whom I could rely to 

 make proper enquiries at headquarters, and after consi- 

 derable trouble he discovered that there was no fine 

 whatever on the statutes, but that a healthy and deter- 

 rent legend only existed *. Another legend appertaining 

 to this bird and copied in popular books on ornithology 

 is that its legs are so long and brittle that they will 



* For this and much other reliable information I am indebted to my 

 friend Meinheer J. II. E. Bal, of Pretoria, who has long been a resident in 

 the country. 



