1 66 THE BIRDS OF ETHIOPIAN AFRICA 



sometimes another, simultaneously spreading their wings, which are alternately 

 raised and depressed. These movements, it is suggested, may be connected with 

 escape from the clutches of the large Carnivora. Indulged in instinctively as play 

 while, young, and even when adult, the performance gives the bird expertness in 

 the rapid jerking movements which are those first followed on an alarm. 



A number of species of migratory birds visit South Africa from 

 the north during the southern summer, among which the following 

 may be noticed. European swallows are to be met with at that season all over the 

 veldt, although much remains to be learnt regarding the times of their arrival 

 and departure. Eight species of cuckoo visit the country, among which the red- 

 breasted Cuculus solitarius may be recognised by its loud triple note. On the 

 other hand, the European cuckoo, which does not range so far south, is generally 

 silent during its sojourn in Africa. Among the birds of prey are the Egyptian 

 kite (Milvus cegyptius) and Naumann's kestrel (Tinnunculus, or Cerchneis, 

 nciumanni). Most interesting of all is the white stork, which begins to 

 appear in South Africa in November. During the southern summer of 1910 it 

 is recorded that in the Buffalo River district no less than 185 of these storks were 

 observed one day in January to pass overhead in a quarter of an hour. They 

 generally go northward again in March, although a few may linger till May. 

 Black storks arrive earlier, sometimes making their appearance during the last 

 few days of September. 



In connection with storks, it may be mentioned that, as the result of marking 

 the legs of nestlings, the occurrence of a south-westerly autumnal migration of 

 these birds has been definitely ascertained, storks which were ringed in Denmark 

 having been taken respectively at Brandenburg, near Frankfort-on-Oder, and in 

 Austrian Silesia. This migration is remarkable in that its line cuts at right 

 angles the route taken by the great majority of birds at the same season. As 

 regards migration to and from Africa, Prussian storks have been captured in 

 Syria, Palestine, and near Alexandria in some instances in the first, and in others 

 in the second, year after marking. One Hungarian stork was also taken in Syria. 

 On the other hand, three Prussian storks were severally taken during their first 

 autumn near Lake Chad, on the Blue Nile, and on the Victoria Nyanza ; a bird 

 which left Pomerania at the end of August was taken in north-east Rhodesia 

 early in December, and a Prussian stork was shot in the Kalahari during its first 

 winter. There are also records of Prussian storks having been taken in the 

 Transvaal, Natal, Basutoland, and the north of Cape Colony, and also of a dozen 

 Hungarian birds from the same area, while one has been obtained so far west as 

 German South-West Africa. With one exception, all these birds were taken 

 during the northern winter ; but the exception was captured in July. So far as 

 the records admit of generalisation, it appears that storks generally return to- 

 their original summer haunts ; but there is a notable exception in the case of a 

 bird hatched near Brunswick in 1908, which made its appearance a couple of years 

 later about 437 miles away in eastern Prussia. Very remarkable was the capture 

 near Barcelona in September 1910 of a bird hatched in the neighbourhood of 

 Cassel, as this west German stork took a line of flight almost exactly the opposite 

 of that followed by its fellows hatched in Denmark and north-east Germany. 



