140 



NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



were so numerous, and the flocks so dense in the north, that the natives were enabled 

 to procure numbers by spearing them when flying. 



Nearly related to the above species are the African PLECTROPTEKID^E, or spur- 

 winged geese. As the name indicates, the bend of the wing is provided with a strong 

 spur, and the legs are rather high, and placed well under the middle of the body. 

 There are three or four species of the genus, Plectropterus, one of which, P. ruppellii, 

 from eastern Africa, with the high frontal knob, is here figured. 



Mr. T. Ayres gives the following account of the habits of the knobless but nearly 

 related P. gambensis, from the western and southern parts, as he observed them in the 

 Transvaal : " This is the commonest of our wild geese, and is by no means capital 



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FlG. 66. Alopochen xgyptiaca, Egyptian goose. 



eating, as the flesh is coarse and tasteless, and the young birds have scarcely any meat 

 on them. Sometimes they are very shy, and at others almost absurdly tame ; as a 

 rule, it requires heavy shot to kill them. They come out early in the morning from 

 the swamps and reeds to feed on grass-seeds, and are often seen on the farmer's corn- 

 lands : if stalked in the long grass, they will almost invariably creep away, instead of 

 taking wing ; and, unless the hunter has a dog, it is no easy matter for him to find 

 them, as they run at a good pace, and by the time he is on the spot expecting them 

 to rise, he sometimes sees the head of one a couple of hundred yards off, examining 

 the situation ; if the shooter squats when the birds are flying, they will often come 

 and have a look at him, and this curiosity frequently costs them their lives. As a 







