33G ON SAFARI 



to pick up stray grains of rice. But they do so here in 

 a half-nervous way, and have not yet acquired that 

 familiarity with man which they exhibit in the South. 



Glossy Starlings nest in hollow trees exactly as our 

 starlings do at home. 



Wondrous assemblages of these birds, together with 

 Rollers, Bee-eaters and Shrikes, Kites and Kestrels — 

 indeed, the whole of the insectivorous tribes — may be seen 

 gathered together at every veld-fire when the natives are 

 burninsf-off the dead herbage. Feathered crowds dart 

 hither and thither amid smoke and flame : while the 

 luckless locusts and grasshoppers are literally hemmed in 

 between fire and sword. For those few that escape — mostly 

 crif)pled and singed — forthwith find themselves confronted 

 by an army of Storks and Cranes sedately advancing 

 in rear of the flames so soon as the burning embers per- 

 mit. Altogether, a veld-fire affords an interesting episode 

 in the economy of African bird-life. 



Crows 



African Rook — Heterocorax capensis. Observed on high ground. 



White-necked Raven — Corvultur alMcoUis. At Voi, several of 

 these handsome birds, as big as European Ravens and 

 with huge beaks, scavenged quite fearlessly about our 

 camp. 



White-breasted Crow — Corvus sccqoulahcs. Common. 



Note. — Crude and incomprehensive as it necessarily is, this List 

 comprises upwards of sixty species of British birds, including nearly a 

 score of our smallest and most delicate summer-migrants. 



