J 00 Smith's Report of the Expedition 



itself, certainly occurred in that relative proportion which warranted its 

 being regarded as their favourite, if not their prescribed, resort. 



" The first district includes within its limits, Africa south of the Ky 

 Gariep ; the second, the country between the latter and Kurrichaine ; and 

 the third, the tract between Kurrichaine and the Tropic of Capricorn. 

 Each of those provinces, again, would admit of being subdivided into 

 smaller ones, which, individually, would establish paramount claims to the 

 possession of certain forms, and at the same time furnish members of 

 others, whose head quarters would be readily traced to other localities. 

 Thus, most of the species we met with appeared to have each a natural or 

 chosen domicile, where an evident congregation of its members existed ; 

 and, by discovering some of these, I was obliged to discard opinions which 

 had been formed during our early movements, as to the paucity of mem- 

 bers in certain species, and their very limited range. The country in the 

 vicinity of the Ky Gariep supplied us with a few specimens of several 

 species, certain of which must at least have been wanderers, as their more 

 common habitats were eventually discovered either immediately beyond 

 Latakoo, or between Kurrichaine and the Tropic. But of three of the 

 species obtained near that river, no additional specimens were afterwards 

 discovered : it may therefore be expected, that of these the partridge will 

 be found in abundance on the grassy plains which skirt the range of moun- 

 tains that extends towards the remote sources of the Ky Gariep ; the 

 thrush, in numbers, either on the banks of the various streamlets to the 

 eastward, or in the district interior to Delagoa Bay; and the Falco chiquera 

 may also have its African metropolis in the same direction. 



" Scarcely had we passed the northern limit of the first district, when 

 objects foreign to it presented themselves to our notice ; and by the time 

 we reached the latitude of Latakoo, which may be regarded as the centre 

 or head quarters of the second province, we found many novelties to 

 engage attention, at the same time that we were kept in remembrance of 

 the first district, by the occasional appearance of species common even in 

 the vicinity of Cape Town. 



" In advancing towards the third province we lost several species, par- 

 ticularly of birds, common near Latakoo; and we occasionally met with 

 new ones, but the individuals were in number so limited, that they might 

 be regarded as emigrants, rather than fixed inhabitants of the district. On 

 reaching the vicinity of the third province, objects hitherto unseen were 

 immediately procured ; and before we had penetrated it to any extent, the 

 number of those was considerably increased, and some species known to 

 inhabit Northern Africa were obtained, such as Merops Minulus, Psittacus 

 Meyerii, Anser gambensis, &c. 



" Certain species of quadrupeds and birds were found common to the 

 three districts; namely, Cercocebus pygerythraeus, Mephitis Zorilla, Cy- 

 nictis Ogilbyii, Canis mesomelas, Hyaena crocuta, Leo Malaniceps, Bathy- 

 ergus hottentotus, Elephas africanus, Gazella euchore, Boselaphus Oreas, 

 Strepsiceros Koodoo, Vultur fulvus, Neophron aegyptiacus, Helotarsus 

 typicus, Elanus melanopterus, Accipiter musicus, Accipiter Gabar, Milvus 

 parasiticus, Nilaus (Lanius capensis Shaw), Bucorvus (Corvus albicollis), 

 Picus biarmicus, Columba capensis, &c. 



" Others to the second and third, such as Macroscelides brachyrynchus, 

 Ichneumon ratlamuchi, Rhinoceros simus, Rhinoceros Keitloa, Equus 

 Burchellii, Camelopardalis australis Siv., Aigoceras equina, Antilope 

 melampus, Cephalopus Burchellii, Vultur occipitalis, Neophron caruncu- 

 latus, Cratopus bicolor (Loxia maculosa Burch), Estrelda Granatina, 

 Pterocles variegata, Pterocles semitorquata, &c. 



"And to the third only, Galago Moholi, Macroscelides Intufi, Sciurus 

 Cipapi, Aigoceras ellipsiprymnus, Prionops Talacoma, Cratopus Jardine, 

 Euplectes Taha, Estrelda Lipiniani, Estrelda bengala, Polystictice, 



