The Birds of South Africa 252 



fibres, but from its tough nature the birds are only able to strip off the two 

 marginal threads ; and to construct one of these nests many thousands of 

 Sanseviera leaves are deprived of their red-edged fibres : in the neighbour- 

 hood of one or two of these nests, you will not find a perfect leaf on any of 

 those plants." 



In the Zoological Appendix to Salt's "Travels in Abyssinia,* 

 contributed by the late Earl of Derby, the curious fact is stated of 

 Columba guineae becoming a domestic house pigeon ! The asser- 

 tion has been currently regarded as a mistake unquestionably, but 

 there is nothing extraordinary in a rock-building pigeon attaching 

 itself to edifices. All of the house-frequenting birds of this country 

 are rock-builders naturally, and even now the jackdaw, the starling, 

 the house sparrow, the chimney swallow, and the house martin, 

 may not unfrequently be seen to nestle in sea-cliffs. Columba 

 guinese is described by Mr Layard to be 



" Common throughout the colony, nesting in rocky places, on inaccessible 

 ledges and in holes ; never in trees. * They fly in flocks when the crops are on the 

 ground, and do considerable damage to the agi-iculturist. In the sea-face of the 

 mountains, of which Cape Point forms the extreme south, there are numerous 

 caverns tenanted by these birds. Some years ago I entered one of them in a 

 boat, and for the first time had the pleasure of seeing this fine pigeon breeding 

 in considerable numbers ; every ledge of the cavern-side was tenanted by as 

 many nests as could be conveniently stowed away, while the parent birds were 

 continually arriving or departing on their busy task of feeding their young. 

 The cave was unapproachable except by water, and one would have thought 

 that the birds would have been careless in consequence of the choice of this 

 eyrie ; but not a nest was accessible. I have, however, obtained eggs of this 

 species from other sources." 



The allied C. arquatrix and C. delagorgui are forest birds, the 

 former of these placing their nests on the tops of the tree-ferns, 

 high upon the mountains, as well as upon trees in mountain ravines. 

 In this country C. oenas is occasionally a cliff-builder, like C. livia, 

 as discovered by Mr J. E. Harting, although exceptionally and 

 locally, as it would appear. Mr Layard refers to "the tame white- 

 breasted guinea-fowl," as if it invariably possessed some white upon 

 its plumage, as Mr Swainson, too, formerly supposed ; but we have 

 seen very many of unbroken colouring. Of the wild South African 

 species (Numida mitrata), Mrs Barber writes : — 



" Our wild guinea-fowl are easily tamed, and you frequently see both sorts 

 together upon the fanners' homesteads on the frontier. Our South African 

 species is altogether a much handsomer and larger bird than the tame, and is of 



* Vide, however, the "Ibis" for April of the current year, p. 141. 



