TUE 



CANADIAN NATURALIST 



AKD 



(Qunrtfrtu ^/ournal of J»cunrc, 



A FEW HOURS AT CAPE-TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA. 

 By Licut.-Major George E. Bulgee, F.L.S., F.K.G.S., C.M.L.S., etc. 



It was on tlie 3rd December, 1864, at the beginning of the 

 South African Summer, that, with two companions, I left Cape 

 Town by the 7.14 a.m. train for Salt River, where we had hopes 

 of obtaining a few curlews, as well as some of the various kinds of 

 Tringce and Charadriadoe, which, with other wild fowl, frequent 

 the banks of the stream, and the adjacent shores and inlets of 

 Table Bay, in considerable numbers. Our expedition was deci- 

 dedly more ornithological than sporting, for success with the cur- 

 lews could only be regarded as a possible contingency, while we 

 looked upon good specimens of the smaller birds as almost certain 

 trophies. 



Ten minutes travelling brought us to Salt River Station, where, 

 quitting the railway, we struck down towards the beach, on foot, 

 and speedily arrived at one of the branches of the stream, six or 

 seven yards across, by about the same number of inches in depth, 

 which intersected the sands, and cut us off from the part we wished 

 to explore. The water was beautifully clear but brackish and 

 quite cold, as we soon learnt by walking through it, no other means 

 of crossing having presented itself. After this, as it was low tide, 

 we kept along the shore of the Bay, where the sand was hard 

 and firm, and where we could enjoy the cool, fresh and delicious 

 breeze that came sweeping in steadily from seaward, the heavy 



Vol. Y. Z Xo. 4. 



