74 MR. EGBERT GODFREY ON THE 



Kei — with wliich it marches in its upper parts, but as an 

 ornithological centre it is, thanks to the labours o£ Trevelyan 

 and Pjm at King Willianistown and o£ Rickard, Wood and 

 Center at East London, much better known than its larger 

 neighbours. 



During a residence of eight years — from the end oE 1907 

 to the beginning of 1016 — at the Pirie mission station on 

 the edge of the Pirie forest, I made continual observations 

 on the birds of that locality, and in the columns of the 

 "East London Daily Dispatch" I have lately been publishing 

 a tentative list of "The Birds of the BufiFalo Basin." On 

 the basis of these papers I now desire to summarize our 

 knowledo-e of bird-life of that area. 



During my stay at Pirie I devoted my attention to the 

 living birds in their native haunts, but I also welcomed every 

 opportunity of handling specimens. Not having shot any 

 birds myself, I relied on the courtesy of others, who hunted 

 on my behalf and sent me tlie spoil, and I was fortunate in 

 having a little army of collectors among the native children 

 of Pirie, who fo!- a long period came to me in an almost un- 

 broken [)rocession with the produce of their traps and their 

 hunting. I have also to acknowledge the help, so readily 

 given at all times, by the authorities of the Transvaal 

 Museum. 



Cape Tbrusli — Turd us olivaccus, L. Probably a bird 

 of the forest in the olden days, the Cape Thrush still loves 

 the security of the natural bush and is resident in the forest 

 area at Pirie, occurring in the <]optlis of the forest as well as 

 along its borders. But it has long since ventured beyond 

 the recesses of the forest and the wooded river- valleys and, 

 at the present da}^ it is found even in gardens attached to 

 human abodes. At Pirie it lives and rests beside the Girls' 

 School and, in the centre of King Willianistown, it finds 

 haunts suited to its retiring disposition. Mr. Wood of East 

 London reckons that at least a dozen pairs hav(^ their per- 

 manent abode in the Park theni. 



