JiinLi (if the Ki'Ooii.-<tad J)idnvt. 49 



708. ffiDicNEMUS CAPENsis. (Dikkop.) 



I think this bird (sometimes called " Commando Voocl "') 

 is migratory, as sometimes it is plentiful and at other times 

 absent ; it is also sometimes observed in small troops, and on 

 other occasions in pairs. Their artfulness in running in the 

 bush and flj'ing when they have a bush betv^^een them and the 

 gun is marked. 



711. Glareola melanoptera. (Nordmann's Pratincole.) 



This most useful and interesting bird has been much 

 in evidence this year, presumably from the enormous swarnis 

 of locusts, unfortunately so coumion and destructive this year 

 (190(J). There is little more to be said about the flocks of 

 this species than is so ably described by Sharpe and Layard ; 

 but they do not mention the appearance of the flocks when 

 seen at a distance, almost like a cloud in ever-chanoino- form 

 and colour, now black, then almost invisible, then flashing 

 white, and again into black. 



The following may be of interest. A clergyman observed 

 them, and called my attention to the peculiar "cloud," and 

 on my telling him it was a swarm of locust-birds, he 

 ridiculed the idea. Eventually we got near enough to see 

 them distinctly ; but he refused to admit that it was the 

 same " cloud "" we had seen before, and as he would not say 

 *• Mea culpa ; confiteor/' I did not say " Absolvo te." 



The wonderful evolutions of these birds gyrating in the 

 air and when after a swarm of locusts, is a beautiful sight 

 to watch ; and the way they dart into a swarm, and make 

 wings and legs drop to the ground while devouring the 

 bodies, is really marvellous : and the locusts seem to know 

 their enemy, for they fly for all the}- are worth and do not 

 seem to dream of stopping while the flock of birds are after 

 them. I believe the birds are equally effective after " voet- 

 gangers," but I have not seen this myself. 



705. CuRSORius RUFITS. (Burchell's Courser.) 

 Common along the roads in this district. They breed 

 early in the spring, and the young ones are seen running 



SER. II. vol,. I. -i 



