IMPROMPTU SPORT ON THE VELDT 187 



Long before reaching the pan, we could see, by the 

 aid of our field-glasses, that Jacob did not err in stat- 

 ing that there were " great hundreds " of birds on the 

 water, for indeed there were, and of many different kinds, 

 from the great spur- wing (Pleetropterus gambensis) and 

 Egyptian goose (Chenalofex cegystiaca) down to the 

 pink-bill teal and dab-chick, the latter darting and 

 diving here and there amongst the beautiful purple 

 water-lilies and aquatic plants, for all the world hke his 

 little British cousin, who, by-the-by, he almost exactly 

 resembles. A big colony of quarrelsome old coots had 

 taken possession of one end of the lagoon, and right well 

 did they hold it against the incursions of their more 

 peaceful neighbours, the geese and ducks. 



Assembled on a long spit of ooze, which had been left 

 high and dry by heavy droughts, was a big flock of 

 sacred ibis, quartering and boring into the soft mud like 

 so many huge curlews, while nimbly dodging here and 

 there along the spongy shores were to be seen numbers 

 of waders, amongst them the avocet and black-winged 

 stilt, conspicuous in their black and white plumage. 



Telling the beaters to halt at the widest end of the 

 pear-shaped pan until given the signal to wade towards 



us in line, H and myself went to look for suitable 



stands amongst the reeds at the other end. With the 

 tepid water and foully-smelling slime oozing into the 

 tops of our field-boots at every step, we waded gingerly 

 through shoals of hideous mud-fish and small grey lizards 

 until firmer footing among the reed-cover was reached. 



