Field Notes from Bloemfontein.



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behaviour it is exactly like the familiar Cut-throat (A. fasciaia),

so well-known in every bird dealer’s shop at home.


In the same aviary there were also Alario Finches, Cape

Canaries ( Serinus canicollis ), Sulphury Seed-eater (A. sulphuratus,

S. icterus, the Giant Wbydah ( Cher a progne), and a single

specimen of the Cape Bunting ( Fringillaria capensis').


There are plenty of these little Buntings on Naval Hill

and several of them haunt my aviary. I have caught five or six

with an ordinary sieve and a stick supporting it with a fine piece

of string attached to the stick. They seem stupid little things; I

missed catching one and he didn’t seem to mind it at all, but

merely went and sat on a stone about six yards off while I set

the trap again, and then went under and was caught. One cock

bird I put in the aviary was very vicious to his own species,

completely scalping a hen bird and beating her brains out; but

with other species they are quite peaceable. They like to sit

quite flat on a rock in the sun and look just like tiny Ouail.

The cock has a pleasant little song of four notes.


Last week I paid a visit to the Zoo in Pretoria and saw

several fine Giant Whydalis. Dr. Gunning, the Curator, has

some very nice birds in these gardens, and amongst the lovely

trees and flowers and in the warm air, all the S. Africau species

thrive wonderfully.


I saw the Curl-crested Guinea-fowl ( Guttera edouardi ), the

Cape Pochard ( Nyroca capensis') and Gallirex porphyriocephala,

I have never seen this handsome Plantain-eater in captivity

before. It is in a huge aviary about the size of the one in

Loudon in which the Ibis and Flamingoes are kept, and I was

much struck with its peculiar soft, gliding flight. It was quite

tame and came down close to the bars to take a bit of apple

from a child’s hand.


Before leaving Pretoria for Bloemfontein I went to see an

aviary in the town, and in it I noticed the following interesting

species : the Bar-breasted Weaver-finch ( Ortygospiza polyzona),

a queer little bird with a metallic chirp like that of a Zebra-

finch. It seems to spend all its time on the ground, and why it

is called a “ Weaver-Finch ” I cannot quite imagine. The owner

of the aviary gave me three specimens of the Blue-breasted



