Wild Birds of the Pretoria Zoological Gardens. 85 



case the cat was a white one and could not have been 

 mistaken for a hare or any wild mammal. Probably the 

 Falcon thought that the cat was an intruder on her special 

 rat preserve. 



The male Lanner described above at one time, when put 

 on the wing to the lure, would stoop at my Irish terrier and 

 either make him lie down or drive him off the ground. In 

 Basuto folk-tales, Mr. Murray tells me, the Lanner is called 

 " Pakhui," or the Policeman. 



Though in Europe, where Peregrines can easily be 

 procured, no falconer at the present day would think 

 Launers worth training, out here, where they ought to bo 

 easily procured, they are worth a trial by anyone whose tastes 

 lie that way. They arc easily trained and become very 

 handy and even affectionate. 



I say ought to be easily procured, as in certain districts 

 they are fairly common, but, as a matter of fact, I find the 

 greatest difficulty in obtaining them ; and if any reader of 

 these lines will put me in the way of getting either Lanners 

 or Peregrines {F. mino7'), young or old, newly taken and 

 uninjured, he will earn my lasting gratitude. 



XII. — The Wild Birds of the Pretoria Zoological Gardens. 

 By Alwin Haagner, F.Z.S., Col. Member B.O.U., Hon. 

 Mem. Royal Hung. Bur. of Ornithology (Superintendent 

 Tvl. Zool. Gardens). 



During the last couple of years the wild bird-life in the Zoo 

 has been on the increase, and every now and then I see a 

 bird here not previously noticed. In fact, there have been 

 one or two birds seen here which are rare so far south, and I 

 thought, therefore, that if a list was compiled, and added to 

 occasionally, it might bo of some interest. 



1. RuiNOrTiLUS ciiALCOPTERUS (Tennn.). Bronze-wing 

 Courser. 



I saw two examples of this (to the Central Transvaal) raro 



