310 Dr. J. Kirk on the Birds of the Zambesi Region. 



Grey Turacoes are common, as likewise Mouse-birds, Parrots, 

 and Rollers. The river-banks are honeycombed with the holea 

 of Bee-eaters and Martins. 



Herds of elephants and buflfaloes roam over the plain and 

 frequent the marshes. Of the former as many as 800 have been 

 seen at one time from the mast-head — one of the herds, when 

 moving in Indian file, extending over a mile. The river abounds 

 with Hippopotami, Crocodiles, and fish of various sorts. 



Few birds have reached England from the country above the 

 confluence of the Shire and Zambesi. The neighbourhood of the 

 Portuguese town of Tete is a rich ornithological field, the varied 

 physical features giving rise to diversity of plants and animals. 

 Among the mountains which form the barrier to Zambesi navi- 

 gation, 30 miles above Tete, the Cosmetornis was first met with 

 in full plumage ; since then it has been seen in other parts. 

 These rapids, named " Kebra bassa/' ov " the end of labour,'' 

 offer some of the grandest scenery in Eastern Africa, second 

 only to the bold headlands of the Nyassa and the Great Victoria 

 Falls of the Zambesi, where the river, one mile wide from bank 

 to bank, drops at once by a perpendicular fall of 350 feet into a 

 chasm only 80 yards across from the face of falling water to the 

 opposite and equally vertical rocky side. The sight of this well 

 repays the toils and dangers of a march on foot from the east 

 coast. From such a spot, however, the number of specimens 

 which it is possible to carry ofi" is limited. In my case the few 

 I obtained were subsequently lost. It was the very driest of 

 the hot season when we visited this region, and few birds ap- 

 peared. Guinea-fowls and Bustards were common ; and in the 

 Batoka hills to the north a fine species of Francolin was seen, 

 difiering from what had been met with elsewhere. 



The Antelopes of this part are peculiar, or at least contain 

 several peculiar species. In the marshy lands alone are found 

 the Lechee, Poku, and Nakong, whose spoor is a foot in length ; 

 the Striped Eland — a better-formed animal than some specimens 

 of the common sort in the plains ; on the hills a small and 

 seemingly new sort of Steinbok, and small mountain Antelope, 

 peculiar to the Batoka hills, named " Teinyane." 



The plants of this part were many of them new, indicating 



