Birds observed in Katanga. 27 



From the capital we went to Tsliinshenda and spent some 

 time up and down the railvvay-liuej especially in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Moushosi. At Tshinshenda there were a few 

 Wheatears (^Saocicola pileata livingstonii) on the open ground 

 close to the station ; but I think that they must be only dry- 

 season migrants, as when Ave revisited this locality in 

 .December they had apparently left. Yellow-billed Kites 

 (Milvus (Sffyptius) were plentiful and, I understood, resident. 

 These Kites^ which the natives call 'Wimbwi/^ were occa- 

 sionally seen solitary, but more frequently in parties ; they 

 were constantly round our camp in the bush, and displayed 

 great audacity in the way in which they would swoop down to 

 within a few feet of a " boy '^ and snatch up some morsel of 

 meat. Peters' Glossy Starling {Lamprocolius sycobius) was 

 very numerous, and I found it throughout the trip. 



Finishing our immediate work along the railway, we 

 travelled down to Sakania, and from here set out in earnest 

 for Kalonga, via Kavalo and Mandoko. We stopped at 

 Muelwa's kraal on the Muniengashi River for a few days on 

 account of inclement weather, and here enjoyed some good, 

 hunting. I found the Saddle-bill Stork [Ephippiorhynchus 

 senegalensis) , native name "sepi," in a bit of a swamp 

 in the hills at the headwaters of the Muniengashi, and 

 there were several large nests— without eggs — built up above 

 the low vegetation of the marsh, which probably belonged 

 to these birds. Several Crowned Cranes (^Balearica regu- 

 lorum) were seen in pairs on the swampy vleis along the 

 Muniengashi, but this was the only time I met with these 

 liandsome birds. Plum-coloured Starlings, which I ascer- 

 tained were referable to Cinnyricinclus leucogaster verreauxi 

 were ; plentiful. I also shot a Thrush (Turdus libonyanus 

 tropicalis), which was inquisitively investigating the tents 

 from a tree close by. On the break of the weather we 

 pushed on towards the North- Western Rhodesia border, 

 passing through country, evidently from the old spoor, 

 frequented by elephant and. numbers of buffalo in the wet 

 season. Here I met.with the fine Lourie [Musophaya rossa), 

 but found it always very wary and difficult of approach. 



