About Birds along the River near Oudtshoorn. 243


house near x\lbany, N.Y. Indeed our kind hostess purposely asked

him to come, in order that I might make his acquaintance and see

some of his paintings. Of these my wife and I purchased four.

All of waterfowl. Mr. Fuertes, seeing my paint-box, offered to

paint me a male summer duck, which he did from memory in a

very short time, and it hangs with other treasures in my bedroom.

He impressed me as very diffident as to his abilities, and very kindly ;

and I remember tbe clever manner in which he imitated birds’ voices.

American men of his calibre are well worth meeting, neither can I

ever forget the courtesy and kindness shown to me, and not only

by those who were lovers of birds. HUBERT D. AsTLEY.



ABOUT BIRDS ALONG THE RIVER

NEAR OUDTSHOORN.


By F. E. Blaauw.


Oudtshoorn is situated on a small affluent of the Olifant’s

river in the south of Cape Colony. It is chiefly built on the eastern

side of it, and the ground on that side rises considerably, forming

steep banks in many places.


On the western side the banks are mostly flat and are over¬

grown with Arundo donax and some mimosa trees ( Acacia horrida).

On the eastern side there is also some Arundo donax, but the higher

parts are planted with trees by the inhabitants who have gardens

there, and the eucalyptus trees are rather numerous.


One morning—end of April, 1914—I decided to follow the

course of the river for a while to see what birds could be observed.

Although the river bed is rather wide, it did not contain much water

and only in a few places were there pools of any depth, which how¬

ever were full of small fish. In the shallow parts a good many

rocks and stones projected out of the water.


The first birds which I saw as I approached the river were a

good many Cape wagtails (Motacilla capensis) who were catching

insects in and about the shallow water. The Cape wagtail is quite

a feature of South Africa. It moves daintily on the walks of the

parks in Cape Town. I met with it in the inland towns and small



