CHAPTER XVII 

 BRITISH BIRDS IN SOUTH AFRICA 



Many migrants between Great Britain and South Africa — A long list — 

 The osprey — Peregrine and other raptorials — Nightjar — Its brief 

 sojourn — Chimney swallow and swift — Roller and bee-eater — The 

 warblers — Golden oriole — Fly-catchers and shrikes— The cuckoo — 

 Turtle-dove unknown in South Africa — Quail and plovers — The white 

 stork — Herons and bitterns — Wading birds — Rails and crakes — The 

 moorhen in South Africa — Grebes and other birds. 



A LIST of all the birds found alike in England and 

 the whole continent of Africa would be too long 

 to deal with in the space of a chapter, but it may be of 

 interest to notice those birds which frequent both the 

 British Islands and the countries south of the Zambesi 

 River. While shooting and travelling in South Africa 

 I was long ago struck with the presence of some of our 

 well-known British birds. The subject interested me 

 so much that I followed it up, and my list of species is 

 now a fairly long one. The osprey — one of the noblest, 

 although now, unhappily, one of the rarest of our 

 British birds — is remarkably cosmopolitan in its range, 

 and although not by any means common in South 

 Africa, it has yet been identified there by competent 

 observers. In Natal it was years ago noticed by Mr. 

 Ayres, the well-known naturalist, frequenting salt- 

 water lakes near the sea. The true peregrine {Falco 

 peregnnus) has never, I believe, been identified in 

 South Africa, but is represented there by a similar, 

 though smaller and darker, species, Falco tninor, 



153 



