18 Mr. F. 0. Noome on Birds 



niiprrant?, I did not follow it. Shortly afterwards, farther 

 down the field, I noticed another, which I managed to secure. 

 Finding out then wliat it was, I returned to where 1 had 

 last seen the other, but searched in vain. The specimen 

 secured was very fat and in good plumage. 



The following migrants were also observed at Blaauw- 

 berg : — 



Efrypti.in Kite {Mi/ri(s fei/ijptius). 

 Lesser Kestrel (Cerc/incis iiaumanni). 

 European Bee-eater (Meroj)s apinder). 

 European Swallow {Ilinmdo rustica). 

 IJed-backed Shrike [Lanitis collurio). 



Strong winds were continuously blowing from the N.E. 

 Strano-e to sav, not a single Cuckoo or European Roller 

 was noticed. 



In some parts of the stretch of mimosa thorn-trees were 



dense patches of scrub, and amongt other birds found there 



I collected a series of skins of Camaroptera griseovirlUs 



sundevalli. The first two specimens I shot were an adul^ 



and immature female, and which I took to be of the subspecies 



{C. g. noomei) described in the 'Annals of the Transvaal 



Museum/ July 1911. After having dissected them I noticed 



that the immature specimen had the ])ase of the mandible 



horn-yellow, while the entire beak of the adult was black. 



This aroused mv curiosity, and I spent several unsuccessful 



davs in trying In procure more sjiccimens, as they ke]»t to 



the very dense and tangled scrub, in which it was most 



difficult to get a sight of them, and when I did so, more 



often than not they were too close. Seeing several herd- 



bovs in charge of goats, the idea struck me of sending tlicm 



in with their goats to fiush the birds, and by doing this I 



was able to get a few more specimens, some of which were 



too much knocked about to be preserved. The birds when 



disturbed by the goats flew into the largest trees, rising 



higher and higher as their alarm increased, until they 



reached the topmost braiu-hes, where I could see them 



outlined against the sky. The cackling note, which T also 



licard them utter when they could not have be<'n alarmed, 



