lOO 



THRUSHES AND WARBLERS. Of these I 

 can only speak in the most indefinite and general 

 way. In Bathurst I once saw a Thrush, very like 

 a rather dusty hen Blackbird in appearance, hopping 

 about on the ground just as ours does at home when 

 looking for worms, though I am afraid the very last 

 thing this bird could have been hoping for was the 

 discovery of a worm in the sandy patch of dry 

 straggling grass which he was searching. I have 

 also seen a similar but greyer bird at different places 

 since, but have no idea to what species they belong. 

 I am nearly sure that I once saw a Nightingale here 

 (Jan. 1902), while Redstarts (I presume our bird) are 

 not uncommon in the winter : I have often seen them 

 at sufficiently close quarters to be certain of their 

 identity. Another Thrush which is found in pairs in 

 thin bush is a very noticeable bird, and must, I think, 

 be Cercotrichas podobe; it is a reddish-winged bird 

 with a grey head marked with horizontal black 

 stripes. Wheatears (two kinds) and Whinchats (the 

 latter very like or identical with our bird), are very 

 common everywhere during the dry season, and as- 

 I have not yet been out here during the rains, 

 my knowledge of bird-life of that season is as yet 

 practically 7iil. Other Chats are also common, of 

 which two are certainly noteworthy : they are two 

 black Chats (? Pentholcsa albifrons and atraia), which 

 appear to be very local in their distribution, as I have 

 only seen them on the North Bank, and there only 

 near certain villages. In one species the nape is 

 white, in the other the forehead, while in both the 

 rest of the plumage is dead black. 



Warblers again are present in great variety, 

 especially in winter, when we are visited by many 

 emigrants from Europe, such as the Whitethroat etc., 

 but so many of them resemble each other so closely, 

 and so retiring are they in their habits, that I really 

 can hardly say I know one from the other. Among 



