Birds. 9813 



below the drift,* where we had outspanned, for perhaps a mile or so. 

 This krantz had been the scene of my explorations, but it pro- 

 duced me scarcely anything. I observed a long-winged hawk of some 

 description, probably the rock kestrel [Tinininculus rupicola), flying 

 about the face of the cliff, l>ere of considerable height, and running 

 sheer up from the water's edge, where there were also numbers of the 

 common swallows of the country, Hirundo capensis. A small wooded 

 island close to the foot of the aforesaid krantz was equally unpro- 

 ductive, and, at the time of my visit, it appeared literally uninhabited. 



On the summit of the cliffs I met S returning, and, whilst we were 



sitting on a rock to enjoy the cooler air of the high land, a beautiful 

 little dove, Turtur cambayensis, dashed past us, and shot down to the 

 trees in the valley of the river. Here we got some bulbs of the 



splendid scarlet-crimson Cyrtanthus I have spoken of, and S had 



already secured those of another beautiful species of the same family, 

 Cyrtanthus uniflorus, which has blossoms elegantly striped with 

 purple. 



B 's chief anxiety was to secure specimens of a very lovely 



scarlet reed-bird {Loxia oryx), of which he had seen hundreds in this 

 place some two or three months ago, and also of the beautiful green 

 spreeuw f {Lamprotornis Burchellii), one of the handsomest birds in 

 the colony, its blue-green plumage possessing that wonderful metallic 

 lustre, which varies in the different lights and flashes like polished 

 steel ; but the doctor was doomed to disappointment ; not a scarlet 

 finch was visible, and the few spreeuws which he met with were very 

 wary, and kept out of reach of his gun. 



H killed a good specimen of the common dove of these parts, 



Turtur semitorquatus, as also one of those curious but handsome birds 

 which, I believe, are called "monkey-birds" in the colony, and some- 

 times " monkey spreeuws ;" but they belong to quite a different tribe 

 to that of the Lamprotornis, and are more nearly related to the 

 hoopoes : Promerops erythrorhynchus is the scientific designation of 

 the one I allude to, and it has glossy black plumage, with a long 

 scarlet curved bill (which looks as if it were made of red sealing-wax) 

 and scarlet feet. 



After luncheon we started again for another short ramble previously 

 to returning hoioe, but, like the former one, it was not characterized 

 b}' the discovery of anything very new. To the left of our camping- 

 place, on the river-margin, is a patch of high rank grass and reeds, 



* A ford. t "Spreeuw" is Dutch for slarling. 



