Birds of Gazaland. 55 



every ' Quare ' of the female was accompanied by a bow. 

 This went on for two or three minutes, when she flew 

 towards the nest, followed in a few seconds by the male. 

 At this moment my terrier frightened them, but I banished 

 him and again waited, hearing several times the male's note 

 repeated three times in succession ' Wo, wo, woh ! ' when 

 I might even then have mistaken it for a frog's, had not tiie 

 female sometimes joined in and renewed the duet for a few 

 seconds. Finally, she flew to the nest and had just said 

 ' Quare ' when I shot her to ascertain her sex, the male, 

 still at a distance, answering ' woh ' after the shot." The 

 calls vary somewhat in their arrangement, and when the two 

 notes are run into each other, as they sometimes are, without 

 an interval, and kept up for some time, one might easily 

 mistake them for a true frog-duet. At another nest : " The 

 birds were bolder than usual, though iu any case they are 

 not so shy at the nest as at other times, the female especially 

 remaining in sight while moving about in the higher branches 

 of the trees some distance away, though the male, as usual, 

 skulked to some extent. Their performance differed from 

 that of the other day, the male calling twice to the female's 

 once. Male : ' Woh ! ' Female : ' Quare ! ' Male : 

 * Woh ! ' The first * Woh ! ' is rather long-drawn and the 

 second is shorter and sharper and breaks in in the middle of 

 the female's ' Quare ! ' The birds kept this up steadily for 

 quite a long time, bowing at every note, recommencing again 

 immediately should they be interrupted by a flight and 

 keeping time perfectly, however far apart. When, once or 

 twice, the female called without waiting for the male, he 

 promptly brought in the second sharp ' Woh ! ' only, in its 

 proper place. The alarm-note is a short repeated ' Tchk ! 

 Tchk ! ' and was in this case uttered by the female when I 

 shot the male, and was continued by her for some time 

 interspersed with numerous ' Quares ! ' as she searched for 

 him, A second female had just previously joined in the 

 song at a little distance off, and now, after the male's death, 

 continued to make answer {always with the same ' Quare ') 

 to the survivor's call." 



