264 Mr. J. H. Gurney's Notes on 



Mr. Ayres writes that in the Transvaal this Grebe " breeds 

 in December, in most of the shallow lagoons, in from two to 

 three feet of water, amongst the rushes. The nests, which float 

 on the water, are formed of a mass of rushes built in a conical 

 form, about a foot in diameter and two or three inches out of the 

 water. On leaving the nest, the old bird always carefully covers 

 the eggs with rushes ; and any person unacquainted with this 

 habit would pass the nest as an unsightly heap of rotten weed. 

 The eggs, from three to five in number, are frequently much 

 discoloured from being half immersed in water; but this does 

 not appear in any way to injure them or to prevent them from 

 hatching in the usual way. The young birds are beautiful little 

 downy creatures, striped brown and black on the back, and white 

 and black on the chin and throat, their bodies being pure white." 



700. Graculus africanus (Gmel.). Long-tailed Cormo- 

 rant. 



This Cormorant inhabits the freshwater lagoons on the coast 

 of Natal, as has been recorded in ' The Ibis ' (1862, p. 154) ; and 

 Mr. Ayres has also met with it in the Transvaal. 



701. Pelecanus onocrotalus, Linn. 



702. Pelecanus rufescens. Lath. 



Mr. Blyth has pointed out (Ibis, 1867, p. 178) that the name 

 onocrotalus has been assigned by different writers to two distinct 

 species of Pelican — the one with a long occipital crest and a pe- 

 culiar tumid appearance of the feathers of the forehead, the 

 other wanting these characters. On the other hand, Mr. P. L. 

 Sclater, in a recent couimunication to the Zoological Society 

 (14tli May, 1868), appears to consider these two forms merely 

 different ages of the same species. As living birds of both are 

 now in the Society's Gardens, it may be hoped that the matter 

 will soon be settled. 



The crested form appears to be that which Mr. Layard includes 

 under the name P. onocrotalus ; and it is also that which I for- 

 merly called P. mitratus, Licht. (Ibis, 1861, p. 135), which 

 name, in Mr. Sclater's opinion, is more probably a synonyui of 

 P. minor, lliipp., a species, so far as I know, not yet obtained in 

 South Africa. 



