Locust Birch in the Transvaal. (j5 



every day for at least a week and looked quite healthy, no 

 dead ones being found anywhere. Some reports were circu- 

 lated to the effect that thousands of these Locust Birds had 

 died on the Springbok Flats, so I caused our Locust Officer for 

 that District to make enquiries at once. He could not find 

 dead birds, neither did he hear of any dead ones. One bird 

 was, however, found eaten by Jackals, far away from where 

 any spraying had been done. Ahdimia abdimii is black with 

 a greenish gloss on the upper parts, and, as the name implies, 

 has a white belly. There is a circle, bare of feathers, round 

 the root of the beak. 



The White, or European Stork. (Ciconia alba.) 

 Ciconia aiha (Andersson's, p. 280 ; or Cieonia cieonia, 

 Reichenovv, p. 345 ; Brehm, vi. p. 508) visits the Transvaal 

 every year. This is the Large Locust Bird of the South 

 African farmer. I have seen this bird often in the company 

 of the Abdimia Stork in the Northern Transvaal as well as 

 on the flats of the high veldt of the Northern districts. They 

 do a lot of good by eating great quantities of locusts both in 

 the adult as well as the nymphal stages. A grass-fire will 

 always bring a nvimber of them together if they are in the 

 neighbourhood. One can see them darting through the 

 smoke, even running through the fire where it is not too 

 strong, catching all insects which are disturbed by the heat. 

 At Kosterfontein, and at Twee River in the Rustenburg 

 district, I saw a \erj large flock of these birds last November 

 demolishing the swarms of voetgnngers. This Stork does not 

 breed in South Africa. The white plumage with the bhick 

 wings, red beak, and legs of the Large Locust Birds is well 

 known to all travellers. 



The Kestrels. {Tinnunculus.) 



When the locust-destruction work in Rustenburg and 

 Marico districts was finished in January this year, a few 

 swarms of locusts remained over. Some few voetgangers in 

 out-of-the-way places, between the mountains or bushes, shed 

 their last skin and became adults, then collected together and 

 began to move in a south-westerly direction ; but theii flight 



SEK. II. — VOL. I. 5 



