Mr. H. Seebohm on the Birds of Natal ^'c. 337 



of the Kartloof, the veldt of Hanover and York^ and the 

 thorn (mimosa) country of Colenso have each their peculiar 

 bird-life, so that the avifauna of Natal is a very varied one, 

 rich in sjjecies as well as in individuals. To attempt to 

 obtain more than the merest passing glimpse of so great a 

 number of species of birds in so short a time as one month 

 would be of course impossible. Moreover the month of 

 March, during which I was in Natal, is unquestionably the 

 least favourable one in the whole year for the study of 

 the resident birds. In Natal, March is the beginning of 

 autumn, most birds are in full moult, skulking in the bush, 

 and, for the most part, silent. My chief object in visiting 

 Natal was, not to study the resident birds, but to see some 

 of our British species in their Avinter home, and to try and 

 settle one or two vexed questions relating to the moulting 

 and migration of British birds. 



The statement that most, if not all, our species of Waders 

 (Plovers, Sandpipers, and Snipes) moult their primaries in 

 spring as well as in autumn has been questioned by so many 

 practical as well as theoretical ornithologists, that I deter- 

 mined to visit some winter resort of these birds, and obtain 

 irrefutable evidence that Naumann knew what he was talking 

 about when he stated, as an unquestionable fact, that the 

 Limicolse moult their primaries in spring as well as in 

 autumn. I chose the Bay of Durban as the most convenient 

 locality where British birds abound in ai inter. The coast of 

 South Africa is very steep, the sea is often rough, and the 

 waves of the Indian Ocean dash against the barren sand- 

 hills which skirt the shore with so much violence that few 

 or no birds are to be seen from the deck of the coasters, except 

 Petrels and now and then a Gull or a Gannet. On the other 

 hand, the lagoons at the mouths of the rivers swarm with 

 birds. The sand-hills protect them from the violence of the 

 winds ; and the periodical floods (for one of the features of 

 South-African climate is that it never rains but it pours) 

 bring down abundance of animal and vegetable food, which 

 the birds can pick up at their leisure on the mud-flats left by 

 the falling tide. As I expected, I found the Bav of Durban 



