Mlijndioa of Ifii'ds in Souf/i Afncn. \ '.• 



breasted Swallow {IJirundo cvntUaia). It arrives in the 

 South and West of Cape Colony about the beginning of 

 September, and is an exceedingly common bird everywhere. 

 At the end of March or the beginning of April it disappears 

 northwards, and the most remarkable fact is that its winter- 

 quarters are quite unknown ; hitherto it has never been met 

 with between the months of May and August either in South 

 Africa or elsewhere. 



It is among the Cuckoos, however, that the greatest 

 number of these African migrants are found. Out of twenty 

 South African species nine are included in this category. 

 The South African Cuckoo {Cuculus gularls) is rare in Cape 

 (Colony, but not uncommon in the Transvaal, Bechuanaland, 

 and Rhodesia in the summer months from October to March. 

 In the cold weather it appears to be found all over Tropical 

 Africa north of the Zambesi, where it lias been met with by 

 many observers, as at Witu in British East Africa in May 

 by Jackson, and at Lado on the Upper Nile in April by 

 Emin Pasha. This is also the case with the Red-chested 

 Cuckoo (^Cuculus solitarius), common in the neighbourhood 

 of Cape Town, the Black Cuckoo (C clamosus), the three 

 Green Cuckoos (Chri/sococn/.v), and the Black-and-White 

 Cuckoo (^Coccystes jacolnnns) . 



Under the heading of Partial Migrants I have included a 

 number of birds which, although subject to migratory move- 

 ments of various kinds, appear to be found at all times of 

 the year in South Africa in fair numbers. The movements 

 of some of these birds dejjend on special circumstances, such 

 as the presence or absence of some particular kind of food, 

 and in others are probably due to climatic causes. For 

 instance, Andersson notes that in the case of many birds they 

 are only to be found in Damaraland during the rainy season, 

 though in other parts of South Africa they are residents. 



One cause of partial migration is due to the movement of 

 the swarms of locusts found in so many pnrts of Africa. 

 Three species of birds are especially associated with such 

 swarms: the Wattled Starling (Creaiopltora carunculata), 

 Nordmann's Pratincole {Glareola »iela/ioj4era), and, when 



