382 Capt. Sperling's Ornithological Notes 



Lives in pairs near the banks of the White Nile, on low shrubs 

 and high trees. Flutters Thrush -like from branch to branch. 

 The song is very sweet and variable. The food consists of in- 

 sects and worms. My birds were collected in the months of 

 February and March ; and I do not know whether C. guttata is 

 resident or not. 



XXIV. — Ornithological Notes from the Ethiopian Region. By 

 Rowland M. Sperling, Acting-Commandei', H.M.S. ' Ra- 

 coon/ 



The following notes were taken during the months of October, 

 November, and December 1867, when the ' Racoon ' went 

 from Simon's Bay, Cape of Good Hope, to Zanzibar and back, 

 touching at some intermediate places. The exhaustive catalogue 

 which my friend Mr. Layard has recently published on the 

 birds of South Africa is so complete that I have not here 

 noticed many birds that came under my observation, as it would 

 only have been going twice over the same ground ; and I have 

 furthermore availed myself of his knowledge of the avifauna of 

 this country to request him to verify the specimens that I 

 brought back, a task which he has kindly performed. 



We started from the Cape on the 7th of October. Standing 

 out of False Bay, before the last puffs of a north-westerly wind, 

 its usual ornithological features were presented. Small flocks 

 of Gannets hovered over the shoals of fish that frequent these 

 waters, occasionally making perpendicular swoops on their prey. 

 A few Penguins, with nothing but their quaint grey heads 

 visible, uttered their melancholy whistle and sank like phantoms 

 as we ghded by, while immense flocks of Shags were flying in 

 triangular-shaped flocks from Cape Point, to which extremity 

 they always retire in northerly winds. We had not lost sight 

 of Cape Hangklip when every breath of air left us, and for two 

 days we lay on the AguUas bank, " as idle as a painted ship 

 upon a painted ocean " — a most unusual occurrence to happen 

 off the Stormy Cape. However, I availed myself of the calm 



