RAMBLES IN BRITISH BECHUANALAND 49 



covered with them. Eager to escape from the fly 

 nuisance, my shooting friend and I bade the Boers 

 farewell and departed ; he to try a round back to 

 camp again, I to potter about on my own hook. 



There were some large thickets hereabouts in 

 which I espied a good many interesting small birds. 

 I therefore sauntered leisurely along, having taken 

 the precaution to exchange a charge of dust-shot 

 for one of my No. 5 cartridges. Amongst other 

 birds I found here several j)airs of the extremely 

 handsome crimson-breasted shrike (Zaniarius atro- 

 coccinc'us), first discovered by Burchell, and procured 

 one or two specimens. The crimson colouring of 

 the breast and lower parts of this shrike is one of 

 the most brilliant things in bird life. I found here, 

 too, the southern white-headed shrike, which I have 

 observed in small flocks in many parts of the interior. 



Many other small birds I noted during this 

 morning's ramble (one or two of which I shot) ; 

 among them the most prominent were, perhaps, 

 the South African hoopoe, some of the beautifully- 

 tinted Burchell's glossy starlings {Jidda australis) 

 with their wonderful metallic plumage, some yellow 

 weaver-birds {JPloceus mariquensis), and, as I ap- 

 proached the kopje, nearing camp, a fidgety wheat- 

 ear, undoubtedly the well-known " familiar " wheatear 

 (Saxicola familiaris). This wheatear is pretty 

 widely found all over South Africa, and relishes 



