Birds from South-eastern Africa. 241 



of September. After this they gradually became plentiful. 

 The hen bird glides amongst the boughs of the trees with won- 

 derful ease and rapidity, and is decidedly not so plentiful as 

 and much more difficult to procure than the male. I never saw 

 the female settle on trees ; but the male, when flushed, fre- 

 quently does so, and perches lengthwise on the branch, with 

 the long wing-feathers hanging to one side. Sometimes they 

 hawk high in the air, especially on calm evenings. At other 

 times in well-wooded parts they sweep round and round 

 swiftly and gracefully ; but when disturbed they fly as if 

 their wings were an incumbrance to tUem. The long wing- 

 feathers, even in September, are more or less worn, leading 

 one to suppose that they would be in full plumage about 

 July ; and M'here do they come from ? In October they begin 

 to shed the long feathers. Several males are often seen 

 together. The last place we saw them on our way out was 

 just on the northern side of the Changani river, on the 30th 

 of October, when I put up eight or ten, all cock birds, from 

 the ground amongst some high trees clear of underwood. In 

 the evenings, just at dark and afterwards, the cock birds call 

 frequently, uttering a curious strident note, much like the 

 squeak of a mouse — tswee, tswee, tswee, often repeated. 



We took the first clutch of two eggs on the 28th of Sep- 

 tember, and another of two next day. The bird lays on the 

 ground, sometimes under the trees in the open woods^ and 

 sometimes on more open ground. The eggs taken on the 

 29th were placed behind and sheltered by a large stone close 

 to the bank of a small dry gully ; these eggs were of a light 

 ruddy brown of various shades, with some milky or ashy 

 places here and there; one measured I'l inch by 0*8, and the 

 other 1-25 by 0*8. The eggs taken on the 28th measure 

 1 inch by 0"75, and are not so rich in colouring, all the colours 

 being less distinct. Soon after the shells get dry the colours 

 fade. On no occasion where the hen was sitting did we find 

 the male anywhere near ; so I suppose that the cares of the 

 family are entirely left to the hen bird. 



