NOTABLE SOUTH AFEICAN BIRDS 53 



its choir of songsters — no tropical country can — yet 

 the African avi-fauna is by no means quite devoid of 

 song birds. In beauty of colouring many of the 

 birds of South Africa can vie with any part of the 

 world — except, perhaps, the Malay Archipelago — 

 the sun-birds, kingfishers, bee-eaters, cuckoos, rollers, 

 and even some of the finches can here offer examples 

 of gorgeous beauty hardly to be surpassed anywhere. 

 In its birds of prey this land is prodigally supplied. 

 Seventy species at least are represented ; and when 

 one sees everywhere the eagles, hawks, falcons, and 

 owls, all fiercely striving for a living, one marvels 

 where the supply of food for such a multitude can 

 come from. 



In game birds South Africa is peculiarly rich. 

 Guinea-fowls, francolins (the "partridges" and 

 *' pheasants " of the colonists), bustards, and sand- 

 grouse are all abundantly represented, and the up- 

 country wayfarer owes many a welcome meal to 

 their presence. 



The curious secretary bird (Sagittarms secreta- 

 rius, the " Slang vreeter " — snake-killer — of the 

 Boers), that puzzle to scientists, still stalks the veldt 

 with ludicrous solemnity, and beyond the Orange 

 Kiver is found in plenty. In Cape Colony of late 

 years it has considerably decreased in numbers. 

 Always a knotty problem to naturalists, from its 

 peculiar blending of accipitrine and bustard-like 



