94 Capt. Boyd Horsbrugh,


from China. 4 ' So that it is the Carolina which should have the

preference as a subject for acclimatization at present; and although

the export of most of the native New Zealand birds, some of

them very desirable, is now prohibited, I have no doubt that, if

exchanges could be established between the Acclimatization

Societies and aviculturists here, permission could be obtained

for the export of a limited number. In this way Carolina

breeders could do an inestimable service to aviculturists at large,

and I for one should be very happy to do anything I could to

help in establishing communication between New Zealand and

an} r of ourselves.



SOME FIELD NOTES IN SOUTH AFRICA.


By Capt. Boyd Horsbrugh.


I enclose a few notes on birds I observed in the Western

Transvaal during two years spent in constantly moving from

place to place in the country lying between Mafeking, Zeerust

and Rustenburg in the northern part, and Kimberley, Klerksdorp

and Bloemhof in the southern. I was at the time absolutely

without any book on S. African birds, or my notes would have

been very much fuller.


The first bird I had was a j 7 oung Meyer’s Parrot

(.Pceocephcilus meyeri) which was given to me by an old Dutch

vrouw : I carried ‘ George ’ from pillar to post for a matter of 13

months; bj^dayhe shared a stout w'ooden box about 12 inches

square with a Ground Squirrel (Xerus capensis) belonging

to my servant, and they both slept as close together as possible,

and were the best of friends. The Parrot, when I first got him,

was only just out of the downy stage and had to be fed for some

time by hand. Later on he learnt to feed himself and saved me

much bother. O11 arriving in camp, the box was opened, and the

strangely-assorted couple had a good square feed of Ouaker-oat

porridge with lots of brown sugar, the more sugar there was the



* I hope that the New Zealand Societies will take up this species also for accli¬

matization. I have, since writing this article, seen in some feather sale catalogues

Mandarin Duck feathers advertized by the pound !—F. F.



