124 CREATOPHORA CARUNCULATA 



by both Schiitt and Mechow. Sala met with it at Galungo- 

 alto, and Monteiro at Equemina Bay near the town of 

 Benguela, " in a newly dug field, evidently seeking for worms 

 or grubs." 



Anchieta found these Starlings fairly abundant at the 

 Kio Coroca as well as in the Humbe district and were known 

 to the natives as the " Virindongo." Kellen procured speci- 

 mens at Gambos, Humpata and at the Okavango River, and 

 Andersson writes: "These singular birds appear in Daniara 

 and Great Namaciualand about the beginning of the rainy 

 season, and mostly leave again upon the return of the dry ; 

 but I suspect that a few pairs occasionally remain and breed, 

 as young birds are to be found throughout the year. This 

 species is always in flocks, often consisting of a hundred or 

 more individuals, which greatly remind me of a flock of 

 European Starlings, and are rather shy and difficult to 

 approach ; they feed on worms, berries and insects, chiefly 

 small coleoptera." 



Layard writes : " They breed in companies. We found 

 them in September, 18G9, at the Berg Eiver; their nests 

 filled many small bushes ; they were cup-shaped, but built 

 close together, and added to from time to time till they 

 became almost a dense mass which filled the bush," and he 

 received the following communication from Mr. Barber : 

 " Some years ago, when large flights of locusts laid their 

 eggs in the valleys of the ' Konappe ' and ' Chaka ' Rivers, 

 they were followed as usual by the small locust birds. 



" It was spring-time, and these birds filled the thorn 

 trees (Acacia horrida) with their nests ; and some of the 

 trees were so over-burdened with nests, which were packed 

 about, and upon each other, that with the additional weight 

 which a stormy wet day supplied, the trees gave way and 

 fell to the earth, and an awful smash of eggs and young 

 birds bore witness to the melancholy result." 



