626 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
as is generally supposed, a good number iahabiting the banks of 
the Buffalo River, but very hard to obtain. In Natal, writes 
Mr. Ayres, it is “rare and exceedingly shy. It frequents the rocky 
streams of the interior of the country ; can scarcely rise from the 
water; generally flies along the surface, aiding itself with its feet, 
which are lobed; when disturbed it hides under a bank like the 
Moor-hen in England. It feeds on freshwater shrimps and small 
fish.” During Mr. Jameson’s expedition it was obtained on the 
Elands’ River in the Rustenburg district of the Transvaal on the 
11th of May. Mr. Ayres writes again respecting it: ‘The crop 
contained insects. This is a very scarce bird, and exceedingly shy 
and retiring in its habits. We never met with them in any of the 
Matabele or Mashoona rivers.” 
A specimen was contained in Andersson’s last collection, but 
without any particulars attached, so that its occurrence in South- 
West Africa needs confirmation. Senor Anchieta has not seen it 
in the course of his travels, but it has been met with in the Congo 
district by Messrs. Lucan and Petit. 
Fam. GRUIDZ. 
603. Grus caruNcULATA, Gm. Wattled Crane. 
This great Crane is only found in a few favoured localities, 
scattered over the country. A single pair take up their haunts and 
maintain it for years, breeding constantly in the same nest, which 
is repaired as occasion requires. We had the pleasure of watching 
a pair, through our binoculars, engaged in this proceeding: both 
birds contributed to the work, stopping now and then to do a little 
courting, like an ordinary sparrow or canary, but surely undignified 
in so grave a bird! It suggested to us the possibility of an 
Archbishop or a Lord-Chancellor making love! Still “ something 
came of it,” for our friend Hugo took two glorious eggs out of 
that self-same nest, and presented them to us, and they now form 
part of the treasures of the South African Museum. They are of 
a dull olive-brown, irregularly blotched throughout with reddish- 
brown, closely resembling those of Anthropoides virgo and A. 
stanleyanus. Axis, 4’ 3’; diam., 2” 9”. 
