GAME BIRDS 15 



small grain, and often hangs about villages in quest of 

 scattered millet seeds, and does some damage to ripe 

 crops of this kind. It drinks well before sundown and 

 daily, feeding its way down to the water, and often 

 flying back therefrom to the bush. In habit it is solitary,' 

 except at the pairing season and when the mother is 

 looking after her latest brood, which remains with her 

 until almost full grown. It roosts in trees, but the nest 

 is made on the ground concealed among grass and 

 brushwood, and, like those of most other game birds, 

 is merely a slightly hollowed-out depression lined with 

 feathers and grass. I found a nest in March containing 

 five eggs, and on 3rd May I saw a female with three 

 young ones, apparently about a couple of weeks old. 

 On the 28th of the same month, also in the neighbourhood 

 of the Selati Railway in the eastern Transvaal, I met a 

 single hen in the path. She ruffled her feathers and 

 acted generally as if she would dispute progress, after 

 a while running off with her wing dragging in the recog- 

 nized manner of mother birds. A short search revealed 

 the presence of a single very young chick in the grass 

 by the path side ; there may have been others, but the 

 natives and myself were unable to find them. On the 

 other hand, I have noticed coveys of young birds fairly 

 strong on the wing, in the same district in April ; so 

 that I fancy the nesting season in the Transvaal low 

 country, at air events, is not very regular. The cocks 

 of this species are very fond of perching on the top of a 

 dead tree or some dry branch, where, with a good field of 

 view, they sit uttering their raucous call of " kwa-ri, 

 kwa-ri, kwa-a-a-ri," which is responsible for their native 

 name in south-east Africa. 



When running they hold their heads very high and their 

 bodies almost vertical. They are easily caught in 



