338 Mr. H. Seebohm on the Birds of Natal ^c. 



swarming witli British birds^ — Curlew, Whimbrel, Green- 

 shankj Grey Plover, Ring Dotterel, Wood Sandpiper, 

 Common Sandpiper, and Sanderling. The only resident 

 Waders were the African Sand Plover {Charadrius margina- 

 ^M*), which was very common, the Three-banded Sand Plover 

 {Charadrius tricoUaris), which was rare, and the Vermiculated 

 Stone-Curlew [QLdicnemus vermiculatus) , of which we met 

 with a small party on the mud-flats at the mouth of the 

 Umgeni river, north of Durban. The latter bird is interest- 

 ing as being an (Edicneinus with the habits of an Esacus ; I 

 ascertained from resident sportsmen that it does not frequent 

 the dry veldt, like its congener CE. capensis, but is always 

 found on the banks of rivers or lagoons. 



None of these birds were very shy, and we had no difiiculty 

 in making very fair bags. Half the birds we shot had evi- 

 dently just finished moulting, every quill having a gloss 

 upon it like the bloom on a plum or the scales on the wing 

 of a newly-hatched moth. The other half consisted of birds 

 in every intermediate stage between a partial and a complete 

 moult. The new quills were splendidly rich in colour ; a 

 pair, one on each side, were half-grown, and the rest were 

 faded to a uniform rusty brown, and generally ragged and 

 torn to little more than shreds of their former perfection. 

 A day in March in the Bay of Durban must convince the 

 most sceptical that Plovers and Sandpipers moult their 

 primaries in spring as well as in autumn. 



The other question which I was anxious to settle was the 

 truth of the statement that, as a general rule, amongst regular 

 migrants, the further north a bird goes to breed, the further 

 south it goes to winter. As regards species this is \evy easy 

 to prove ; but as regards individuals, the statement has often 

 been questioned. The Swallow {Hirundo rustica) is one 

 of those conspicuous birds which is easily identified, and 

 which is so numerous that its absence is quickly detected. 

 Unfortunately we have no reliable records of the depar- 

 ture of Swallows from Central Africa; but when I was in 

 Natal during the last week in March, Swallows were swarm- 

 ing in countless thousands on the coarse marine herbage on 



