THE I B I S. 



SEVENTH SERIES. 



No. VI. APRIL 1896. 



XIV. — Notes on the Ornithology of the Barberton District of 

 the Transvaal. By Percy Kendall, M.D., F.Z.S. 



These notes relate to a collection I made during a stay of 

 fifteen months in this portion of South Africa. The birds 

 were obtained within a 20-mile radius of the township of 

 Barberton, with the exception of some I got in the bush- 

 country between the Sabi and Crocodile Rivers, west of the 

 Lebombo range, which divides Mozambique from the Trans- 

 vaal. The majority of the species were shot while I was 

 living with Mr. W. A. Caldecott at Fever Creek, which is a 

 tributary stream of the Queen's or Lompagwana River. 

 Barberton and its immediate neighbourhood are more 

 singularly barren of bird-life than any spot I have visited ; 

 and this may be ascribed to the reckless disforesting 

 practised during the " gold boom " in 1885-6, to supply 

 the wants of the batteries and the large population then 

 resident in the vicinity. 



The paucity of species in my list is accounted for by the 

 fact that my professional duties involved long and almost daily 

 journeys on horseback over very rough country, so that it 

 was often impossible for me to carry a gun. If I had not 

 been obliged to subordinate ornithology to other matters, I 

 feel sure that the number of species might have been doubled, 

 especially by research along the uuinerous river-beds. 



8ER. VII. VOL. II. N 



