Migratorij Birds of the Buffalo River Basin. 7 



occasional}' this bird remains with ns all winter. The 

 summer invasion of White Storks began in November. At 

 Pirie tliej were first seen on the 12th, and very soon 

 afterwards they were very common all over the district. On 

 the 28th, one hundred and fifty-four of these birds were 

 counted at sunset at their roosting-haiints in the forest. The 

 present season promises to be a great Stork year ; and readers 

 are again reminded to keep a sharp look-out for individual 

 Storks bearing rings on their legs. 



The Black Stork (Ciconia nigra) was seen at its old haunt 

 near Pirie on September 29th and the two following days. 

 As in 190'J, so again this year only one pair of these binls 

 were observed. Except in colour the Black Stork is the 

 exact counterpart of its v/liite relation, its mode of flight and 

 the arrangement of its limbs in flight being exactly similar. 

 In the Black Stork the head, neck, upper breast, and upper 

 surface are black, while the body and the axillary feathers 

 are white. Storks carry their long legs straight out behind 

 them in flight, and keep their long neck at full stretch 

 forward. This arrangement is a matter of convenience, as 

 it presents the least possible opposition to the air ; but that 

 it is not a matter of urgent necessity is shown by the bird 

 altering this disposition of its limbs in flight on occasion. 

 I have watched a Black Stork while high iu the air lower 

 its head, and at the same time bring forward one of its feet 

 to meet the lowered head and deliberately claw its bill with 

 its foot, while it continued its course through the air. 



Cuchoos. 



Of the eight species of the migratory Cuckoos found in 

 the district, the best known in the Red-chested (Juckoo 

 (Cucuhis soUtarius). This is a very shy bird, generally 

 defying the efforts of an observer to detect him ; but, as ho 

 is exceedingly noisy, he cannot long remain undiscovered in 

 any locality. He never tires of uttering his bold triple cry, 

 but ho gives no offence to either bilingualists or trilingualists, 

 as he is perfectly understood in all three South African 

 lanffuages! 



