Birds in the Cradock and Tarkastad Districts 1 79 



Cursorius iemmincki (Lesser Courser). — The only record of this 

 species being found in either district is a pair I came across 

 on a farm near Tarkastad on February 28th, 1920. I 

 was walking across a land that was being ploughed when I 

 spotted one of these birds jump up. On investigating I 

 found it had a nest containing two fresh eggs. They were 

 laid on the bare ground with no attempt at nest building and 

 were only one foot away from the furrow that had been 

 pulled earlier in the day. The animals were constantly 

 passing close to the nest as they came down the furrow, 

 ploughing away from the nest of course, but the sitting bird 

 took no notice of them. 

 Rhinoptilus africanus (Two-banded Courser). — This species is 

 by far the commonest Courser in both districts, being found 

 on all the open flats. Unlike the Rufous Courser it is 

 never found in flocks. I have never seen more than two 

 adult birds together. The single egg is laid on the bare 

 ground. I have recorded it nesting in the months of Jan., 

 March, August, Sept.. Nov., Dec. 

 Squatarola squatarola (Grey Plover). — This species visits both 



districts yearly in fair numbers. 

 Charadrius varius (Kittlitz Plover). — I have never observed 

 this bird in the Cradock district, but find it fairly common in 

 the Tarkastad district where it nests. I have taken eggs 

 in Sept. in the Tarkastad district, but at the coast it ap- 

 parently nests much earlier as I found several nests on Bird 

 Island, Algoa Bay, in the month of July. On December 

 4th, 1919, I found a nest containing two young ones a few 

 hours old. On leaving the nest the parent bird covered 

 the chicks with sand as this species invariably does its eggs. 

 Charadrius tricollaris (Three-banded Plover). — This bird is 

 common in both districts, being found wherever there is 

 water. I have found a great number of nests in the bed of 

 the Vlekpoort River, Tarkastad. The nest is a hollow 

 amongst the shingle and is nearly always well lined with 

 small stones. Some nests will be found on stony places on 

 the river banks, but the greater majority I have found have 



