96 Mr. C. F. M. Swynncrtou m 



In spite of the various drawbacks ennmerated — and others 

 — I wouid be sorry to lose Pat and Biddy. As for the wild 

 birds, if they at all resemble my own in their tastes, they are 

 certainly likely to take the young- and eggs of game-birds 

 whenever they can find them, and I now realize far better 

 than in 1908 how active they are in relation to their prey 

 ('Ibis,' 1908, p. 404). T have heard this point urged againsk 

 their present special protection by law. But this is, after 

 aU, of very slight importance compared to the immense 

 amount of good they certainly do. I have already described 

 in the ''Ibis' {loc, cit.) how four of these birds (wild) used to 

 patrol my tobacco-field, apparently for cutworms and grass- 

 hoppers ; and their more usual patrolling of the veld is 

 simply a patrolling of future " tobacco-fields '^ and of the 

 sources of insect-supply to present fields. Quite apart from 

 their grasshopper- and snake-killing propensities, the two 

 facts — (1) that they are, when hungry, ready to eat such of 

 our more indigestible pests as Zonoceros and Aritestia in far 

 larger numbers than any other bird I have tried them on ; 

 and (2) that possibly not one of our other birds subsists so 

 largely on underground insects as they appear to or is so 

 skilful at unearthing them, are alone enough to constitute 

 them one of our most useful birds. 



I have only once seen what seemed to be a combat between 

 the birds and a really large snake, and, outwardly at any 

 rate, it was not a very strenuous affair. I was not sure of 

 the snake^s identity (it was a green Colubrine), and I unfor- 

 tunately failed to secure it after its death ; but I think that 

 it was simply an unusually large specimen of J^/sjJiolidtis 

 typus. Smith. Whatever it was it faced the birds boldl}-, 

 and from beginning to end made no attempt to escape. The 

 birds in turn were obviously treating it with some degree of 

 caution. I find no actual note on the encounter, but it was 

 not long ago, and I can trust my memory to the following 

 extent : — 



The snake's head was kept poised very high, higher than 

 that of either bird, although the reptile was itself on lower 

 ground than Bidd}-. The two birds, with the snake, formed 



