Birds observed in Katanga. 33 



not seem to have commenced laying. Late in October 

 I found a Woodpecker's nest (apparently Campothera 

 bennetti) containing two nestlings. The nest was situated 

 in the hole of a tree only five feet from the ground. The 

 native name for this bird is '^ swiswi.'' 



We stayed at Kalonga for over a fortnight^ and were 

 gladdened by the sight of a white man — a Belgian Official 

 being stationed here on the Sleeping Sickness Cordon 

 (Kalonga being the southernmost post on the Congo side). 

 Ail canoe-navigation, with the exception of the ferry, on the 

 river below this point was stopped, and the whole place, like 

 other Belgian Official Posts, seemed a pretty dead-and-alive 

 sort of hole. Early iu November here I noticed the House- 

 Martin {Delichon urbicd), together with the little Pearl- 

 breasted Swallow (Hirundo dimidiata) and numbers of the 

 Smaller Stripe-breasted Swallow {H. jmella) ; a few days 

 later, there was a perceptible wave of Common Swallows 

 (H. rustica), amid which I am almost sure a good many 

 White-throated ones (H. albiffularis) were intermingled. 

 The native name for a Swallow is " tumimiia." Towards 

 the middle of November great numbers of Black Swifts 

 {Ajms apus) appeared, but I do not think they stay very long- 

 in the district. A small Woodpecker (probably Dendropicus 

 zanzibari) was not infrequently noticed within the precincts 

 of the Post. The " Go-away Bird '' (Chizaerhis concolor), so 

 familiar south of the Zambesi, was found to be very local in 

 the Katanga and by far the rarest of the family. On a 

 sand-spit at the head of an island a short distance below 

 Kalonga I identified, with the aid of glasses, the African 

 Spoonbill (Platalea albd)\ and a flock of Geese {Flectro- 

 pjterus gambe7isis) — 'Mvarangu," — flyiog iii their customary 

 V-shaped formation, was also noted here. Before our 

 departure the European E/oller (Coracias garrulus) appeared, 

 and was subsequently found throughout the trip ; but its 

 relative, the noisy Cinnamon-backed species (Eiinjstomus 

 afei-), is equally numerous and, moreover, resident. The 

 Little Bee-eater (Melittophagus meridionalis') was rather 

 plentiful, but appeared to frequent the rivers to a great 



SER. X. VOL. II. D 



