NOTES ON BIRDS OCCURRING IN THE CRADOCFC 



AND TARKASTAD DISTRICTS. CAPE PROVINCE. 



WITH NESTING DATES. 



By H. W. James. 



The Districts of Cradock and Tarkastad are of very great in- 

 terest to ornithologists as bird Hfe is plentiful both in numbers and 

 species. 



The district of Cradock lies in the Eastern Province of Cape 

 Colony. The town of Cradock is on the main line from Port 

 Elizabeth to Johannesburg, the distance from Port Elizabeth 

 being 187 miles. Its latitude is 32.1 OS and its longitude 25.50E. 



The climate of the district is delightful being temperate and 

 extremely salubrious, although the town itself is, at times, excessive- 

 ly hot during the summer months, due to the fact that it has been 

 built in a hollow, its altitude being 2855 feet as compared with 

 2900 feet at Halesowen, eight miles to the south, 4000 feet on 

 the extreme eastern boundary and about 5000 feet on the extreme 

 western boundary. 



Running through the district and right through the town we get 

 the Great Fish River. This is fed from the western side by the 

 PauKs River, which joins the Fish a few miles north of the town, 

 and from the eastern side by the Tarka River, which enters the 

 Fish about 16 miles south of the town. These three rivers are 

 rivers in name only, being in reality Nothing but huge sluits, dry, 

 with the exception of pools here and there, for the best part of 

 the year, but becoming raging torrents after heavy rains. 



The land surface of the district is very varied. On the western 

 side lies the Sneeuwberg range of mountains, and practically the 

 whole of this part of the district is extremely rugged and mountain- 

 ous, with frequent sparsely wooded kloofs. The sides of the 

 mountains, especially those nearer Cradock, are steep and stony; 



