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 

 (Dendroci/gna 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 



