Letters, Extracts, Notices, fyc. 483 



ended in a feathery tuft, the fine connecting wire-quills being 

 quite invisible at a little distance in the dim light. The 

 birds, as J have since ascertained, were the Pennant-winged 

 Nightjar, Macrodipteryx vexillarius. ,> 



The Honey -guide in S.E. Africa. — " On the way [to 

 Narugwe's Kraal on the Pungwe] our attention was drawn 

 to a little Honey-bird or Honey-guide {Indicator sparmani: 

 I acini of the Zulus). On following it, we were led to a 

 gnarled tree standing on the plain, and soon saw the hole in 

 which the bees had taken up their quarters. With the aid 

 of an axe and burning bunches of grass, and a smoking fire 

 at the foot of the tree, a couple of our boys succeeded in 

 securing a few of the combs, but they were rather ' poor/ 

 After a few tit-bits had been placed on one side for our 

 little guide, we proceeded on our journey." — Findlay's ' Biy- 

 Gujne Shooting in South-east Africa,' 1903. 



The Guinea-fowl of the Waso Nyiro. — The Vulturine 

 Guinea-fowl (Numida vulturina) appears to be plentiful on 

 the River Waso Nyiro, north of Mt. Kenia, British East 

 Africa. Mr. Arkell-Hardwicke (' An Ivory Trader in North 

 Kenia,' p. 206) writes as follows : — 



" I had a good time amongst the Guinea-fowl, which here 

 were of the Vulturine variety. They were exceedingly 

 plentiful, and I managed to bag five in a very few minutes, 

 all large and very handsome birds with long tails and light 

 blue breast-feathers. They are most difficult birds to shoot, 

 as they very seldom rise, but run over the sand at a great rate, 

 keeping just out of effective range. In the absence of a dog 

 the only plan is to run after them at full speed till by gaining 

 on them — no easy task — they are compelled to get up." 



The Spanish Colony of Rio de Oro. — In our notice (Ibis, 

 1904, p. 152) of Mr. Hartert's paper upon a collection of 

 birds from the Spanish colony of Uio de Oro, on the west 

 coast of N. Africa, we commented on its disappointing 

 character, and suggested further researches, as the locality 

 is quite unexplored and is interesting as being intermediate 

 between Morocco and Senegal. We have now ascertained 



