EAMBLES IN BRITISH BECHU AN ALAND 43 



the commonest duck iu Becbuanaland, and, indeed, 

 throughout the interior; the odd one turned out, 

 rather to my surprise, to be a South African pochard 

 (Nyroca hrunnea), a species not so common as the 

 teal. The red-billed teal are fine water-fowl, 

 between 18 in. and 19 in. in length, and afford 

 capital eating. In this respect there is little to 

 choose between them and the yellow-billed duck, also 

 a common South African wild duck. Both are 

 capital table birds, and make an excellent change at 

 times to the flesh-pots of the up-country traveller. 

 These and many other species of water-fowl find their 

 head-quarters in the vast systems of the Lake Ngami, 

 Chobi, Okavango, and Zambesi regions far to the 

 north. When the rains descend in Becbuanaland 

 and the countries to the southward, these water-fowl 

 spread themselves over the land, and are to be found 

 upon every periodical river, spruit, vley, and pan 

 throughout the country. I never can forget the 

 enormous masses of water-fowl seen during this year 

 (1890) on the lagoons and shallows formed by the 

 rising of the Botletli river during the dry winter 

 season — the annual period of inundation in the 

 Ngami region. The vast spreading waters were 

 black with them, and their clangour and the roar of 

 their uprising were things to be ever remembered. 



Passing to the next pan, a steinbok was roused 

 in thick covert. The active little antelope was 



