30 Mr. L. Beresford Mouritz on 



On several occasions I liave noticed " fly " settle on birds 

 which I have bagged (guinea-fowl, etc.), and I therefore 

 think it most probable that the tsetse not infrequently bites 

 living birds as well as animals. 



Leaving the river we passed through the country to the 

 east of Mts. Moposhi, Miuta, and Kampondo, and this was 

 the driest portion of our trip. We w^ere, however, lucky 

 enough to find stagnant water (which gave the tea quite an 

 unique taste !) in deep-dug holes, but all the kraals were 

 deserted. In spite of the waterless state of the country 

 there were large numbers of sable, roan, eland, and haarte- 

 beeste, and we enjoyed excellent shooting. Two Hawk- 

 Eagles (Hieraetus spilogaster and Spizaetus bellicosus) were 

 noted here, but the former only came under my notice 

 subsequently — when I saw a pair on the Moushosi Escarp- 

 ment. Whilst out hunting one day I shot two sables, and 

 the first (the herd bull) galloped off into the bush before 

 falling. When I arrived, after despatching the other one, 

 a Red-billed Oxpecker [Bupharja erythrorhyncha) was perched 

 on the animal's back. On our approacliing nearer, however, 

 the bird called several times and flew to a tree close by, 

 whilst the fine old bull lurncd its head, and, upon seeing us, 

 struggled into a standing position and charged my gun- 

 bearer before I stopped it with a second bullet from my 

 D.B. 303. There it stood, shot through the neck, with its 

 front legs spread a bit, swaying in its death-agony, onlj'- to 

 fall stone dead. The vernacular name for the Oxpecker is 

 ''sompa'^; and although it is locally distributed in the 

 Katanga, there are a good many in the I'hinoceros-veld 

 between the Luembe East River and the Luapula. In the 

 neighbourhood of Mt. Moposhi I found the Larger Stripe- 

 breasted Swallow [Hirundo cucullata) in pairs. 



Arriving at Inkosakapenda's on the Loombwa, I saw 

 Marabou Storks {Leptoptilus crumeniferus) associated with 

 puku ('' sebula ''''), whilst at other times they were to be 

 seen solitary ia the uppermost branches of a flat-crowned 

 acacia, where they would stay stolidly, perched on one leg, 

 for hours. On a mere, close to our encampment, there were 



