Egg-CoUect'iiifj in tlie BusliveJd. 3 



about fonv Inindred feet above the water in the pan. Round 

 the outside oE the rim of the pan the thorn-trees are fairly 

 open — principally of the heavj'-topped variety, and the grass 

 fairly short. Inside, the pan is more thickly clothed with 

 thorny and thornless scrub on all sides but the north, and 

 nearer the water the scrub is re[)laced by large thorn-trees. 

 At one place on the margin of the water there is a patch of 

 reeds and rushes, close to which there is said to have been — 

 strange to say — a " f ontein " of fresh water when the pan was 

 being worked. There is no fresh water in the pan itself at the 

 present time, but not half a mile away, in a gully, there is a 

 pond of water fed by an unfailing spring, and those birds 

 which recpiire water have not far to go. In this hot and 

 luxuriant spot, so different from the surrounding parched- 

 looking bushveld, it is not to be wondered at that the bird- 

 life is extraordinarily varied, though shy. It is a place of 

 surprises ; first the extraordinary pan in such an apparently 

 unvarying country, and then the bird-life itself. The pan is 

 situated in the middle of a wide stretch of more or less wooded 

 country, varying in character according to the nature of the 

 soil. On the dry, higher, sandy ground we find the trees are 

 more scattered than in the valleys, most of them thornless, 

 and here and there are tall, gnarled giants standing out con- 

 spicuously above the surrounding trees. In the valleys the 

 bush is more inclined to form matted patches, and there is 

 a preponderance of tangled thorn-trees, some fairly large, 

 with bare trunks and heavy matted tops, and others of 

 smaller size down to little bushes not more than a foot high, 

 all armed with innumerable fish-hook-like thorns. Thorns 

 are so constant a source of annoyance that they seem almost 

 to be alive and reach out to catch one, so difficult is it to 

 avoid them. Through the larger valleys gullies wind their 

 way, often breaking in an uncertain manner into open ground, 

 which is formed into marshes for short periods ; sometimes 

 the gullies are intercepted by reefs of rock, with here and 

 there stagnant pools of water, which dry up after the rains 

 in proportion to their capacity. 



These pools of water mark the places where birds are most 



1* 



