OTIS CAFFRA. 63d 
They make a most extraordinary low, plaintive noise, like one of the 
high notes on a glass flute, or still more like the sound produced by 
moving your finger rapidly round the rim of a tumbler: their note 
is a semitone so soft and sweet, that it is almost impossible to 
imitate it. They also make a sort of clucking or barking noise, 
apparently when alarmed. As yet they have voluntarily eaten 
nothing. Batho took them out in the garden, and one of them 
immediately squatted like a partridge; the other wandered about.” 
Capt. Trevelyan informs us that this Bustard, as wellas O. ludwigit, 
appears on the Frankfort Flats (about fifteen miles from King- 
williamstown) in July, and remains till about November. Mr. Ayres 
in his lists of the birds of Natal mentions the bird three times. He 
says :—‘‘ These birds frequently breed amongst the rocks and stones 
on the top of some hill: the nest is merely a slight excavation 
scratched in the ground, with perhaps a handful of grass. The eggs 
are two in number; and the old bird sits so close that she will 
almost let one tread on her before she rises.” He also states that 
he has killed one of the weight of 20 lb., but another recorded by 
him weighed only 9 lb., while Captain Trevelyan tells us that he has 
shot them with a weight of only 64 1b. Mr. Ayres has sometimes 
found good-sized snakes and lizards in their crops. He says that 
all the Bustards in Natal are excellent eating. ‘They breed in the 
interior of the country, only coming towards the coast as the winter 
approaches: they always prefer ground from which the grass has 
been recently burnt, to hunt for their food. They are exceedingly 
shy, and yet stupid, for although there is no cover, if the sportsman 
take a large circle round and round, gradually nearing the bird, 
the Bustard will frequently squat down with his head to the ground, 
thinking he will be passed unnoticed, when the sportsman may run 
up to within easy shooting distance.” 
Mr. Ayres has likewise shot the present species near Potchefstroom. 
It did not occur to Mr. Andersson in Damara Land, but Senor 
Anchieta has procured it at Huilla in Mossamedes and at Humbe 
on the Cunene River. 
Above, ashy black, waved and streaked ; eyebrows, chin, nape, 
band on sides of neck and belly, white; crown, quills, and tail, 
white, with three black bands. The male has the throat slate- 
coloured; and the female has a black, waved, band on the crown 
and throat. Length, 38”; tarsi, 6”. 
