Vol. xvi.] 8 



sidering- the difficulties he had to contend with during- the 

 war, and the distance of Pretoria from any seaport, the 

 success which he has achieved is truly remarkable. 



" The Transvaal Museum, which adjoins the Gardens, is 

 a new building lately erected at the cost of the State. It 

 contains a good series of South African birds, which are 

 well-mounted, arranged, and labelled. 



" At Bloemfontein, the capital of the Orange River 

 Colony, there is a Museum, under the charge of Dr. Dodt, 

 containing a small collection of momited birds, many of 

 which were collected by Dr. Exton, a correspondent of 

 Layard, who named Barhatula extoni after him. 



" At Bloemfontein also I had the j)leasure of meeting 

 Capt. B. E>. Horsbrugh, A.S.C., a member of this 

 Union, who is well acquainted with the Avifauna of the 

 Transvaal. He has sent many good birds liome aliAe 

 to Mr. Seth-Smith, and has written some notes on the 

 birds of the district round Bloemfontein in the " Avicul- 

 tural Magazine" (n.s. iii. p. 250). 



" Besides the Musemns which I have mentioned, I am 

 told that there are three others in South Africa in which 

 small collections of native birds are exhibited. These 

 are the Albany Museum at Grahamstown, of which Dr. S. 

 Schonland is director, the Museum at Kingwilliamstown, 

 opened about a year ago, of which Mr. H. Pym is 

 the curator, and the Rhodesia Museum at Buluwayo, in 

 Rhodesia, of wdiich Mr. P. P. Mennell, P.G.S., is curator. 

 I should be glad of fui'ther information about these insti- 

 tutions, which I have not been able to visit. 



" Before concluding these remarks I will add a few words 

 upon the birds that I saw in life in South Africa. It wdll 

 be understood that, travelling by railway and stojiping 

 principally in the large cities, I had not much oiDj)ortunitv 

 of taking notes on African bird-life. But during three 

 weeks' residence at Cape Town, where I was living in a 

 suburban villa with a well-treed garden attached to it and 

 with many other similar villas surrounding it, I had some 

 chance of watching the feathered inhabitants. My con- 



