Mr. T. Ayres on the Ornithology of Transvaal. 107 



305. Cypselus APus (Linn). Swift. 



Male^ shot at Potchefstroom 12th January, 1878. 



To-day numbers of these Swifts were hawking over the 

 open country and surrounding marshes in company with 

 Swallows and Martins, mostly Hirundo rustica and Cotyle 

 paludicola, but with a few of Cotyle cincta, Hirundo albigula, 

 and Hirundo cucullata. It is very rarely that these Swifts 

 are seen here in numbers. 



[Two other specimens sent with the above were shot on 

 the 15th of January : of the three, one is an adult bird ; but 

 the other two show remains of immatui^e plumage, and are in 

 the stage which I formerly erroneously supposed to belong to 

 a species specifically distinct and peculiar to South Africa 

 (see abis,' 1868, p. 152). 



In a note sent to me by Mr. Ayres, in a previous year, he 

 mentions having seen a good many of these Swifts, one of 

 which he shot, flying northwards, early in the day, on the 

 8th of February.— J. H. G.] 



Cotyle fuligula (Licht.). Brown Martin. 



The specimen sent was shot at Potchefstroom in January, 

 and was one of a pair which were hawking about the build- 

 ings of the town. This species is one of the scarcest of the 

 Swallow tribe in these parts. 



Chrysococcyx cupreus (Bodd.) . Didric Cuckoo. 



Male, shot at Potchefstroom in December. Irides red. 



Female, shot at Potchefstroom in October. The ovary 

 contained a whitish e^^ with dusky markings. 



[The plumage of the male bird above mentioned agrees 

 generally with the description of the '^ adult " in Sharpens 

 edition of Layard, p. 155 ; an apparently younger male, shot 

 by Mr. Ayres on the 12th March, differs in having hepatic 

 spots remaining on the primaries, contiguous to the white 

 spots, but nearer to the shaft of the feather ; also in the white 

 bars on the inner surface of the primaries and secondaries 

 being somewhat more numerous and in closer propinquity, 

 and in the feathers of the chin and throat being of a metallic 

 green, merely edged with white, instead of their being entirely 



2 F 2 



