72 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



of their sheep and cattle. Sprinbok and Blesbok and other game died by 

 hundreds, besides Bustards aud other large birds. It killed thousands upon 

 thousands of small birds, such as Ploceus oryx and Ploceus taka, and many 

 other species, which from being plentiful are now comparatively scarce : 

 the small birds in some places were lying dead under the mimosa trees, not 

 having been able to obtain their usual grass seeds on the ground, and 

 pinched to death with the cold and the wet thaw.— Thomas Ayrks (Potchef- 

 stroom). [Communicated by Mr. J. H. Gurney.] 



Small Birds carried by Cranks in their Migrations. — In a letter 

 to our contemporary, ' Nature,' on this subject, to which attention was 

 directed in ' The Zoologist '(1881, p. 2G0), Dr. J. Rae says : — " The account 

 of Wagtails taking a passage on the backs of Cranes in a long flight 

 resembles so much a somewhat similar story told and believed in by the 

 Indians in several parts of North America, that I venture to send you an 

 account of it. All the Indians iMaskegou Crees) round the south-western 

 part of Hudson's Bay assert that a small bird of the FringiUida tribe takes 

 a passage northward in the spriug on the back of the Canada Goose [Antttr 

 canadensis), which reaches the shores of Hudson's Bay about the last week 

 of April. They say that they have often seen little birds fly away from 

 Geese when the latter have been shot or shot at. An intelligent, truthful, 

 aud educated Indian named George Puvers, who was very frequently my 

 shooting compauion for some years, assured me that he had witnessed this, 

 and I believe I once saw it occur. It is only the Canada Goose that these 

 little migrants use as au aerial conveyance, and certainly they both arrive 

 at the same date, which is a week or two earlier than the other kinds of 

 Geese (A. hyperboreus and albifrons) make their appearance. I knew the 

 little bird well and have preserved specimens of it, but it is so long ago that 

 I have forgotten the name. The Indians on the shores of Athabasca and 

 Great Slave Lakes — both great resorts of wild Geese — tell a similar story. 

 If a fabrication I do not see why it should be invented about the Canada 

 Goose only, and not about other species which are equally numerous. It 

 may perhaps be necessary to explain that all the Coast Indians of Hudson's 

 Bay devote a mouth or more every spring to wildfowl (chiefly Geese) 

 shooting, the game killed forming their entire food for the time. As soon 

 as the Geese begin to arrive, the Indian constructs a concealment of willows 

 and grass, usually near a pool of open water, at the edge of which he sets 

 up decoys. When Geese are seen approaching — usually flying at a great 

 height — the Indian imitates their call, and the Geese on seeing the decoys 

 circle round, gradually coming lower down until within shot, when they are 

 fired at. It is from these high-flying Geese that the small birds are seen 

 to come. If the Geese are flying low it is a pretty sure indication that 

 they have already rested on the ground somewhere near, after their long 

 flight, when of course their tiny passengers have alighted." 



