368 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Dec. 



While we were thus employed, the j'ounger of my two companions 

 who had separated from ns about two hours before, returned from 

 an unsuccessful chase after an oyster catcher (^Ilcematopus Moqnlni) 

 which, though severely wounded, had escaped him by SAviuiniing 

 out to sea. 



Between three and four o'clock we began to retrace our steps 

 along the river-bank, and, very soon several large flocks of curlew 

 passed before us, having been driven inland by the advancing tide, 

 but they were all out of range, and it was too late in the afternoon 

 to follow them to the upper sands, where they appeared to be con- 

 gregating. We procured, however, specimens of Totcmus glottis, 

 Trlnga suharquafa and Charadrius KiftUtzi, and, in a field near 

 the road, L. — added a beautiful hobby (Hi/potriorchis suhhufeo), 

 to the collection. This charrain^r little falcon is rare in South 

 Africa, and my companion told me very few specimens had been 

 obtained. Swifts and Swallows were abundant, and amongst them 

 in addition to Cgpselus apus and Hirundo rustica, already men- 

 tioned, wc recognized Ci/psdus meiha et caffer, as also Cotyle pa- 

 histris, and Hirundo rufifrons et capensis, we only saw one peli- 

 can, (Fclecaruis onocrotalus !), although, at times, L. — assured me 

 they are common enough in this locality, and that, occasionally, 

 the rarer and more beautiful Pelecanus ru/escens is also to be ob- 

 tained. I observed no other birds, excepting a solitary jackal- 

 vogel, the Bateo jackal of Shaw. 



Butterflies were apparently rare, and not being of special inter- 

 est to me at the time, I did not examine those I saw, excepting 

 one very lovely kind, which L. — said was Zeritis tliyshe: its pre- 

 dominant colour was orange, and I did not observe the blueish gloss 

 said to characterize the species.* 



Plants of course were abundant, and some of them very peculiar, 

 but we had no leisure to pay much attention to them. A lovely 

 golden-yellow Meseinl>ryanthemiim-\ was very plentiful, as well as 

 other species of the same genus, but only one of them was known 

 to me, the ordinary Hottentot fig (^Mesemhrijantliemum ednle.) 

 Miuidtia spi?iosa, and the fou\-^me\\iug Mel ianthus major, which 



* I find that Trimen says {Ehopaloccra Jfricw ausiraUs p. 226) that 

 Zeritis ilnjsbe proper does not occur near Cape'town, but that it is there 

 represented hy a different variety of the same species {Papilio palmus 

 of Cramer) destitute of the blue gloss referred to. 



t Probably Mcsemhryantlicmiun rcptans of Harvey and Souder's Flora 

 capcnsis, but I cannot be sure. 



