GLAREOLA MELANOPTERA. 651 
and numerous specimens were obtained on our homeward march down 
country.” Mr. Barratt met with the species near Pretoria, and in 
the Transvaal Mr. T. E. Buckley found it very common on his return 
journey where it was in large flocks on the high ground. Near 
Pochefstroom, Mr. Ayres states that it is occasionally plentiful 
but at uncertain intervals. Mr. Andersson met with the species 
near Otjimbinque in Damara Land, and according to Drs. Finsch 
and Hartlaub, it occurs both in Great and Little Namaqua Land. 
The ‘‘ Locust Bird,” as it is called by the colonists, is well known 
in South Africa as a friend of the farmer, and, as Mrs. Barber 
informs us, it always builds its nest in the neighbourhood of the 
swarms of young locusts, so that they may have plenty of food for 
their young ones, for young locusts remain long near the spot 
where they were hatched. An excellent account of the bird’s 
habits is recorded by Mr. Gurney in his edition of Andersson’s 
* Birds of Damara Land,” being extracted from Zhe Field of 
February 26th, 1870. The author, whose name does not transpire, 
is stated to have been engaged in a survey near the Fish River 
under the Colonial Engineering Department. His account is as 
follows :—“ The principal enemy of these great swarms (of locusts), 
and the valued friend of the Cape farmer, is the small locust-bird, 
Glareola melanoptera. These birds come, I may say, in millions, 
attendant on the flying swarms of locusts; indeed, the appearance 
of a few of them is looked upon as a sure presage of the locust- 
swarms being at hand. Their mode of operation, as I saw it, was 
as follows. They intercept a portion of the swarm and form 
themselves into a ring of considerable height, regularly widening 
towards the top, so as to represent the appearance of a revolving 
balloon or huge spinning-top. They thus fly one over the other, 
and hawking at the locusts within its limits. As their digestion, 
like that of all insectivorous birds, is very rapid, the form in which 
they thus enclose their prey is admirably adapted to enable the 
lower to escape the droppings of the upper birds. When they have 
consumed this portion of the swarm, they follow up the main body 
and commence another attack, and so on, until night sets in and the 
birds happen to lose the swarm or the locusts are all devoured. I 
should not forget to mention that the beak of these birds is exactly 
of such a shape and such dimensions that when they seize the 
locust the snap cuts off the four wings, and a passer-by sees 
