222 Mr. Guy A. K. Marshall on 



made observations without being able to collect specimens. 

 Considering the general configuration of the country, it 

 cannot be considered as particularly rich in bird-life. As a 

 whole, it is well watered and wooded throughout, and those 

 large stretches of open treeless " veldt " which are found in 

 so many parts of South Africa are here quite unknown; yet 

 it is only in a few favoured localities that birds are really 

 plentiful. A fact which must impress every observer is the 

 way in which one may often walk for several miles through 

 likely-looking country and scarcely see a bird; then sud- 

 denly one comes upon a troop of them, composed of 

 Drongos, Tits, small Shrikes, Flycatchers^ Warblers, and 

 Buntings, keeping more or less together in a limited area. 

 Personally I have little doubt that this may be attributed 

 to the large number of birds of prey which occur here ; so 

 that the smaller birds find it advisable to associate as a means 

 of protection, the Drongos acting as a sort of body-guard. 

 My view is supported by the fact that the phenomenon is 

 observed principally in the open forest which characterizes 

 the greater part of the country; while, wherever the bush 

 is more dense and affords better cover, the small birds are 

 more generally distributed. 



Owing to the pressure of other work, I have been unable 

 to pay any special attention to nidification, and thus 

 the majority of notes given on this subject are based on 

 the observations of Mr. Swynnerton. My best thanks are 

 due to Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe for having worked out for 

 me a collection of Salisbury birds sent to the British 

 Museum in 1895, and a list of which was published in ' The 

 Ibis' for 1896 (p. 241). I am likewise much indebted to 

 Capt. G. E. Shelley for his kindness in furnishing me with 

 much valuable information, including the identification of 

 various specimens forwarded to him recently, and more 

 particularly for revising the present notes prior to their 

 publication. 



1. CoRvus cAPENsis. (African Rook.) 

 These birds are seen commonly round Salisbury in small 

 flocks, but are more numerous about the outlying homesteads. 



