in Zuhdand, ivith Notes on its Birds. 409 



as being a convenient centre from which to prosecute our 

 search for birds. It was within easy walking distance of the 

 low flats_, where there is plenty of cover for birds amongst the 

 tliorns and in the bushy kloofs. Our rule was to rise and 

 get tea at 5 o'clock^ and make an early start for the valley 

 with guns and nets, employing the hotter parts of the day in 

 preserving what we had collected. This being the month of 

 October, the spring of the year, we heard a great variety of 

 bird-notes. Here we first met the elegant Long-tailed 

 Turtle-Dove {CEna capensis). These lovely little birds are 

 generally seen in pairs about Kafir kraals, searching for 

 grains of corn, or picking up grass-seeds on the road-sides. 

 The Collared Turtle-Doves {Turtur vinaceus and T. semi- 

 torquatus) are the commonest members of the Pigeon tribe 

 found in this country. They are seen everywhere where 

 there is any cover for them, and the loud and cheerful 

 cooing of the larger species, T. vinaceus, is liked by everyone. 

 They devour a considerable quantity of grain during the 

 planting-season, but there would not be so much loss if care 

 was taken to plant the seed deeper. 



Bee-eaters are very common here : they are especially 

 partial to hot sheltered valleys. We obtained specimens of 

 two species^ Merojjs buUockoides and Merojjs piisillus. These 

 birds take their prey, consisting of bees, wasps, gnats, and 

 other insects, on the wing, like the Flycatchers. The skin is 

 thick, like that of the Honey-guide, no doubt to protect 

 them from stings. Several of the trees were covered with 

 blossoms which attracted a number of Honey-suckers. The 

 splendid Long-tailed Honey-sucker {Nectarinia famosa), with 

 its golden-green plumage, frequents the localities where sugar- 

 bushes {Protta mellifera) grow, in the large flowers of which 

 they find their favourite food. They make a whistling cry 

 as they chase one another from bush to bush, and the male 

 has a short song. The lled-breasted Honey-sucker is one of 

 our most familiar sun-birds and a frequent visitor to the 

 flower-beds, where it extracts nectar from the blossoms as it 

 flits in the sunshine and displays the gay colours of its 

 plumage. It has a clieerful little song. The Black Honey- 



SER. VII. VOL. III. 2 F 



