50 NATURE AND SPORT IN SOUTH AFRICA 



man's society so miicli as to enter houses occasion- 

 ally by the open door or window, In this respect it 

 resembles the Cape swallow, which builds its nest 

 fearlessly and very frequently inside the living 

 rooms of Boer farmhouses. While crossing the 

 plain on my way round to the rocks of Woodhouse 

 again, I shot one more black and white koorhaan 

 and a dikkop. 



The dikkop (literally '' thick head," a Boer 

 name, evidently bestowed from the rather abnormal 

 development of that part of the bird's anatomy) is 

 a plover {Edicnemus capensis) closely related to the 

 Norfolk plover or thicknee of our English avi-fauna. 

 It is usually found in pairs in open or thinly bushed 

 veldt, and, as it is a good table bird, generally forms 

 part of the game-bag of the South African gunner. 

 It moves abroad mostly after nightfall, and when 

 put up during the daytime, falls, from its slow, 

 laboured flight, an easy prey to the '' scatter gun." 

 The Norfolk plover itself is sometimes met with in 

 South Africa, but is of far more rare occurrence than 

 the widely distributed spotted thicknee or dikkop 

 which I had first shot. 



I climbed the low, rocky hill on my way to camp, 

 and had a fine view over the vast sea of plain and 

 the adjacent hills of Kunana and Koodoo's Rand. 

 In spite of the oppressive heat, I had had a very 

 pleasant ramble. Our united bag that day was. 



