34 Mr. D. F. Gilfillan on some 



Stark and Sclater state that it roosts in trees. Its cry is 

 harsh and can be heard a long way. It is a difficult bird to 

 flush, as it runs almost as fast as a Guinea Fowl and keeps to 

 very thick thorny scrub as a rule. Its flesh is white, but I 

 have found it somewhat dry and indifferent for the table. 



This practically exhausts my information as regards Part- 

 ridges and Pheasants, and I will now take the Guinea Fowl, 

 which also belongs to the Phasianidse, of which there are two 

 genera, Niimida and Guttera, the former being distinguished 

 by a horny growth on the crown of the head and the latter 

 by a crest of feathers. — My own knowledge only extends to 

 one species of the genus JVumida, namely Numida coronata, 

 the Crowned Guinea Fowl. I have seen these birds in every 

 part of the Eastern Province of Cape Colony, and the 

 Transvaal and Swaziland, where I have done any shooting, 

 both domesticated and wild. The domesticated are quarrel- 

 some and bad birds to keep with other poultry, and a source 

 of continuous annoyance to any neighbours not more than half 

 a mile away on account of their penetrating metallic cry, 

 which they can and do keep up ceaselessly for hours. They 

 are good runners and in the open can run away from most 

 men. If they can be headed by a man on horseback or by a 

 dog they will generally squat and lie very close if there is any 

 cover, and can be put up one by one and shot with the 

 greatest ease. I have seen them in immense flocks on the 

 banks of the Komati River in Swaziland, probably at least 

 four or five hundred in one flock. They are, I think, the 

 best eating of the Phasianidse family. They cannot be con- 

 sidered a very sporting bird owing to their running habits, 

 their fondness for dense bush, and the ease with which they 

 can be shot when flushed after having squatted. A method 

 of shooting them has, however, been put into practice by 

 owners of big plantations near Johannesburg, in which these 

 birds show to much greater advantage from a sporting point 

 of view. They are carefully preserved during the close 

 season and in the open season are driven, as Pheasants are in 

 England, so as to fly over the guns stationed in front of each 

 section of the plantation. If they get on the Aving some 



