364 Mr. E. L. Layard on South-African Ornithology. 



Swifts. It occurred plentifully in the late Mr. Anderssou^s 

 collection, which I looked over before it left these shores, and 

 was obtained by him in Damaraland. I have no doubt in my 

 own mind that this is the origin of Le Vaillant^s " Hirondelle 

 huppe" (pi. 247). It probably occasionally finds its way 

 down the west coast, to where he collected ; he saw it on the 

 wing but failed to get it, and on his return to Europe fancied 

 he recognized its deeply forked tail and lengthened wing in the 

 Indian Macropteryx cristata. A Swallow has been named to 

 me as building in the palm-trees {Borassus) about the Zambese 

 River. I suspect this must be the bird meant, and that, like the 

 little Cypselus batassiensis of Ceylon, it glues its nest to the 

 under surface of the dead pendent leaves. 



96. CoRACiAS CAUDATA. This is the other bird to which 

 Dr. Extou alludes. He writes : — " From Sechele's northwards 

 C. caudata is commonly known as ' Mozilikatze^s bird,' its 

 liveliness and pugnacity perhaps having given rise to the old 

 warrior's interest in it. In his earlier career Mozilikatze 

 claimed its feathers solely for royal use and adornment, and in 

 his milder moods has been known to give an ox to the youth 

 who had captured and presented one of these birds. It delights 

 to perch on the topmost branch of a leafless tree, from which 

 it gives forth its note of challenge ; and should a crow or hawk 

 approach, it will make rapid darts at the intruder, and with 

 sharp pecks and harsh screams drive off birds greatly its supe- 

 rior in size and strength. Bechuana name * Le cler-cler,' 

 Matabili ' Fe-fe.' " 



105. Alcedo semitorquata. My son has procured several 

 of these lovely Kingfishers on the Salt-river and the Liesbeck, 

 both near Cape Town. Mr. Atmore writes that it breeds in 

 holes of banks. At Kykoe he took a nest with three eggs, 

 white and polished in the usual manner. 



119. Irkisor erythrorhynchus. Mr. Atmore writes, 

 "abundant in the head waters of the Gamtoos river, in mimosa- 

 thickets," Mr. Ortlepp says, " well known in Zuurbergen, breeds 

 in hollow trees, the nest having the offensive smell of that 

 of other Hoopoes." 



