about Birds along the River near Oudtshoorn.



245



met it very often. It is grey and black and has a white breast and

a white ring round the back of the head, with red on the face.


On the western side of the river, where there were some open

fields, a few starlings ( Spreo bicolor) were running. The name Spreo

I suppose is a corruption of the Dutch name Spreemv, which means

starling. These birds are of a glossy greyish black colour all over,

with white bellies and white eyes. They are tall birds, bigger than

our starlings, with long legs, tails, and necks. They resemble our

starlings in their mode of life and are fond of running in the fields

where cattle are, but they are also very fond of fruit. Like our

starlings they congregate in large flocks towards the evening, making

beautiful flight evolutions over a lake, marsh, or river, before going

to sleep in the reeds ; assembling with much clamour. One evening

I had the good fortune to witness such a gathering near Oudtshoorn.


Besides the starlings, which made their evolutions in big

clouds above the reeds, there was quite a gathering of the beautiful

Elanus cceruleus, which however seemed not to be following the

Sjoreo’s, for after a while they went away in small companies over

the Yeld with great speed and very near the ground, probably hunt¬

ing the small rodents that were coming out of their burrows at dusk.

In this same place I also saw a number of big-eared owls sitting on

the ground near the ridges, from which they expected small mammals

to emerge. I was told that Spreo bicolor makes its nest in the holes

of the high river banks.


But I have again wandered away from my river and must

return to it. Proceeding on my way along the water’s edge I noticed

the remains of some wire fencing hanging over the steep bank, and

on one of the wires there was a beautiful white and black bird

busily catching insects, very much in the same way as do our fly¬

catchers. It was a male of Tarsiger silens. Soon after, three white

and black crested birds came passing me, screaming loudly, and when

they reached one of the deep pools that abounded with small fish

they hovered in the air, looking intently downwards, the beautiful

white and black markings in the tail showing to great advantage.

After a few seconds they plunged one after the other into the water,

going quite under, to emerge with some small fish or big insect

which they had caught. They were specimens of Ceryle rudis, the



