MISCELLANEOUS BIRDS 55 



in August it was not met with until an altitude of 1800 

 feet was attained, at about 300 miles from the coast. 

 It was then numerous. 



PARROTS. There are in south Africa four kinds of 

 parrots, and three kinds of parakeets or love-birds. The 

 parrot found in the eastern Transvaal is the brown 

 headed type. It carries bright green and yellow plumage, 

 and is of small size (only some nine inches long). These 

 birds go about in moderate flocks and are very swift fliers. 

 On the wing they utter noisy and harsh screams ; they 

 are very handsome little birds, but sadly destructive to 

 crops of grain, and are nearly always to be noticed some- 

 where in the neighbourhood of native villages. 



THE GREY LOURIE. In south-central Africa between 

 latitudes 15 and 25 there is no more familiar bush 

 sound than the long-drawn " Go away " of the grey 

 lourie. 



I did not notice it in Portuguese Nyasaland, but in 

 Angola, at about the same latitude, it is quite common. 

 It is a bird of short flight and rather lethargic habits. 

 During the warm hours of the day, it sits, usually alone, 

 in some well canopied tree, at intervals uttering its 

 distinctive and rather querulous call. At certain seasons 

 of the year, grey louries seem to collect in small com- 

 panies, and are then very noisy. The crest is alternately 

 raised and depressed while the bird is calling. It is 

 popularly supposed to warn the game of the hunter's 

 presence and there is no doubt that animals become 

 disturbed when they hear it ; but it will sit for hours 

 saying " Go away " at frequent intervals, whether human 

 beings are near or not, and I do not believe the cry to be 

 invariably a signal of alarm. The flesh is quite good 

 eating, what there is of it. Another familiar bush sound 

 is the note of the Couca'ls or bush Cuckoos, of which there 



