CHAP. ix. GAME BIRDS. 419 



inland. There are, among others, the golden, the spur- 

 winged, the black, and the grey goose, of which the black 

 (Nellapus Madagascariensis), though black-green would 

 be a better description, is the most common in Natal and 

 up the east coast, while the spur-winged (Plectropterus 

 Gambensis) is found further to the north. 



The different species of duck are innumerable, but 

 perhaps, besides the common yellow-billed kind (Anas 

 Jlavirostris), the black duck (A. sparsa), and the tree duck 

 (Dendrocygna viduata) are the two most often met with 

 all over the east and north, the former being the most 

 highly prized for the table ; the muscovy is also pretty 

 common, and there are widgeon and teal the red-billed 

 kind being the most numerous, divers, coots, and water- 

 rail. It is difficult to say what number of water-fowl 

 might be killed, under favourable circumstances, during 

 the course of a single day, but I fancy it would be very 

 much a question of the ammunition holding out, and there 

 hardly exists a stream where an occasional duck may not 

 be picked up. In Zululand the black goose is often to 

 be seen feeding in the maize-fields during early morning, 

 sometimes not twenty yards away from the village fence. 

 The one great necessity is a good retriever, though where 

 there are crocodiles a boat must be used ; many a wounded 

 duck I have seen go down these insatiable brutes' throats, 

 and they form the chief drawback to this description of 

 shooting. 



Pigeons always form a resource when everything else 

 fails, and there are several different kinds of them. I have 

 shot four, and a fifth, that I am not certain whether to 

 class as a paroquet or as a pigeon, though I incline to the 



