346 TRAVELS OF A NATURALIST 



even to the ' tzig ' as he rose. Afterwards I searched 

 every bare stump in the place in hopes of seeing another. 

 He was perched when I saw him first quite 70 feet from 

 the ground, w r as standing in a stooping position, head 

 and bill pointing down, and lower than the back and 

 tail. 



Every additional fact in relation to the perching habits 

 of birds in this country, which do not perch, or perch 

 but seldom, in other countries, is of interest. It is, we 

 think, undoubtedly forced upon the birds by the great 

 flooding of the country, and what was originally forced 

 upon them has become a favourite habit. To those 

 already observed perching on trees and lofty situations on 

 this trip, lean add the Curlew, which Alston and I saw at 

 Suzma, perching on trees and bushes in 1872. With 

 regard to this Snipe, due distinction must be drawn 

 between a branchless bare pole 70 feet in height, and a 

 green tree in full vigour. The Gulls seen perching on a 

 living birch are, perhaps, even more striking examples. 



Temminck's Stint. One little party of these birds 

 frequented a pool in a hollow in the forest, and we 

 bagged four, which amounted to all, or nearly all, the 

 flock. 



Greenshank. Several pairs were seen and heard utter- 

 ing their ' twoo twoo.' As usual, they were wary birds, 

 and we did not secure a single specimen. 



Some Totani, with dark or black breasts, and distinctly 

 barred rumps, were seen and fired at, which there is little 

 doubt were Dusky Redshanks. They were not yet paired, 

 as we saw one party of five, and any others we saw were 

 single birds. 



Wood Sandpiper. Very common, frequenting the edges 

 of the large marsh on the border of the forest, and the 

 marshy hollows. We shot one which had perched 70 

 feet from the ground on a larch- tree, bare of bark and 



