172 SOME BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA 



of them were nesting in the thicker and more secluded 

 parts. 



The bushes which margined the edges of this swamp 

 were rather favourite nesting places for the Malachite 

 Sun-birds, which would occasionally take long flights 

 over the reeds in search of insects with which to feed 

 their young ones. The plumage of the male bird 

 glittered very conspicuously in the bright sunlight, and 

 he seemed to do most of the foraging, being no sooner 

 back from one expedition than he started off on another. 

 This marsh was the outcome of a small tidal backwater 

 which flowed out of the main estuary, the backwater itself 

 consisting of a clear stream with grass banks on either 

 side ; between this stream and the estuary was some 

 dry waste land on which many of the Kittlitz's Plovers 

 used to nest. 



The Greenshanks also were very fond of frequenting 

 this stream, as well as flocks of Wood Sandpipers, 

 both of which species showed up pleasingly towards 

 evening, when the sun was low, and their partially white 

 plumage was emphasised and reflected in the clear 

 water beneath them. I tried, two or three times, to 

 obtain a photograph of these birds as thus described, 

 but to do so was almost impossible ; quite apart from the 

 fact of their being so very wary, it would have been 

 necessary to take them with a short-focus lens in order 

 to ensure the birds being all in focus, and this would 

 have meant that the camera would have to be within 

 about a yard of the birds themselves, if they were to be 

 represented in anything but microscopic form. I suc- 

 ceeded in photographing a single Greenshank with its 

 reflexion in the water, but even that was hardly large 



