Bird Life in South Africa.



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A thing which has surprised me very much is the enormous

number of Canaries kept. Many are kept in large wire cages, five or

six feet long, and six to twenty birds in the cage. 1 am told that

before the War large numbers of Canaries used to be imported from

Europe. I have seen a few seed-eaters, Waxbills and Weavers, and

a Parrot here and there, but with these few exceptions all the cage

birds 1 have seen were Canaries.


The Zoological Gardens at Pretoria and Durban have good

collections of birds, but I did not see anything of outstanding interest

in either of them, except the sun-birds in Durban, which were

wonderfully beautiful.


In Cape Town there is no zoological collection open to the

public except the Rhodes collection at Groote Schuur. This is very

small but very remarkable, by reason of the huge size of the paddocks

in which antelope are kept. This is not good for purely exhibition

purposes, but it enables one to see Ostrich, Gnu, Springbuck, etc.,

grazing on the open hillside without the usual obtrusive, close-drawn

fence. Eland one may meet anywhere, as they are generally free to go

all over the estate.


As regards wild birds, Pretoria is a very birdless town. There

are a few South African Sparrows, Cape Robinchats (Cossypha cajfra),

Wagtails, Doves, and other birds in some of the gardens. A short

distance out of the town one may see the Secretary Bird. Certain

Palaearctic birds pass through on migration, such as the European

Swallow and Spotted Flycatcher.


Durban is remarkable in that it has two common and very

noticeable birds which are seen all over the town, both of which are

imported. The one is the English Sparrow and the other is an Indian

Mynah. The Town Council debated the advisability of destroying

the Sparrows some time ago, but finally decided to let them live.

It would appear that they are extending their range, and that they

must necessarily get out of hand and become a serious pest in course

of time. They are as badly behaved here as at home. I watched one

pestering a pair of Rufous-breasted Swallows (Hirundo semirufra )

which were nesting. It is a terrible mistake not to kill off these Sparrows

while there is yet time.



