18 THE ODYSSEY OF AN ANIMAL COLLECTOR 
The most striking of these were some Burchell’s Crimson- 
breasted Bush-shrikes, the colors of whose under parts is quite 
startling, though the back is black with a white wing-bar. They 
were nowhere plentiful and were found always in pairs. Like — 
most of the shrike family, they lived within strict territorial limits, 
which meant that as far as their own species was concerned this 
area was strictly private, and woe betide any interloper! The type 
of country they frequented was grassland interspersed with clumps 
of bushes. These birds like the seclusion of such places and prefer 
not to come out into the open except to fly from one clump to 
another. Their flight being weak, they prefer to live where a 
distance of fifty yards or so is sufficient to find them in another 
safe retreat. 
Catching them was fairly simple. Having found a clump of 
bushes harboring a pair of these birds, I drove them out, watching 
where they went. I then crawled into the middle of the clump, 
scraped a clear patch on the ground, and cleared away some vege- 
tation so that this could be easily seen. A spring net-trap was then 
set on the patch and a couple of struggling meal-worms pinned to 
the cork which acted as the trigger. A few dried leaves were sufh- 
cient to conceal everything except the worms. Then all I had to 
do was to go to the next clump of bushes, drive the birds back, 
quietly approach the clump, and lie down and listen. When I 
heard a dull thump I knew the net-trap had been sprung, and 
could crawl in to release the bird. To catch the mate the opera- 
tion was repeated, though everything did not always work to plan. 
Other shrikes in my collection were the Bakbakiri Bush-shrike, 
the Greater Puff-back Shrike and the Long-tailed Shrike. 
There were some fine representatives of the thrush family, espe- 
cially the White-throated Robin-chats, whose plumage of gray, 
orange-red, black and white was most striking. The rest included 
the Cape Robin, the Mountain Chat, the Groundscraper Thrush, 
the Olivaceous Thrush and the Short-toed Rockthrush. 
The largest birds were some Crowned Lapwings, a few of which 
subsequently bred in the London Zoo, making their nest in the 
snow at Christmastime in an outside aviary within a foot of the 
passing public! At the other extreme were a number of the tiny 
Red-vented Tit-babblers, and three species of sunbirds. 
