settled on a neighboring bastion some hundred yards away. The nest lay under 

 the lea of the upright pile of stones shown in the illustration on the edge of the 

 bastion, and consisted of a hollow in the soil liberally lined with light-coloured 

 down and containing 5 eggs. A large amount of hard, dried excrement was 

 mixed with the down and the hollow had evidently been used for several seasons, 

 since the remains of old nests were seen below the top layer of down. The eggs 

 are small for the size of the bird, and in colour and texture do not vary much 

 from those of the Brent Goose {Branta bernicla). These eggs were highly in- 

 cubated, probably for as long a period as 20 days. 



After carefully packing up eggs and down, I was about to descend into 

 the valley again, when I saw two geese on the next bastion, about 100 yards 

 away. The pair whose nest was at my feet were on the wing. I scrambled round 

 to the next bastion as quickly as possible and on the way both birds got up. 

 Climbing out on to the bastion, I saw another nest with four eggs in a very 

 similar position to the first, out on the point of the rock, on a space some 15 

 square feet in area, with a sheer drop on three sides. Having no other receptacle 

 I was forced to pack this second clutch in my pocket, with the down, and so began 

 an anxious journey into the valley and back to the sloop. 



This species chooses some curious nesting sites. One goose came from a 

 small cave in an overhung cliff, while some days later we saw a goose sitting on 

 the summit of a mushroom-shaped pinnacle at the top of a high cliff wall. Ice 

 Fjord seems to be the headquarters of this bird as a breeding species in Spits- 

 bergen but there is a certain amount of evidence as to its nesting in other districts 

 of the Archipelago. 



Mr. Jourdain's measurements of eggs taken by Koenig and ourselves are 

 as follows: — 



Average: 76.3 x 49.8 mm. 



Maxima: 82.7 x 46.4 mm. and 76.6 x 52.7 mm. 



Minima: 70.6 x 50 mm. and 82.7 x 46.4 mm. 



SOME SOUTH AFRICAN REPEATERS 



By H. W. James 

 Apropos of the editorial claim advanced last year, viz., that birds when 

 robbed of their nest immediately set about building another, I wish to offer the 

 following evidence secured upon or near the Maldwyn Estate Irrigation Farms, 

 Klipkraal, Tarkastad, Cape Province, Union of South Africa. In recording 

 these observations, it is needless to say that the repeated robbing of nests was 

 deliberately experimental and not either casual or customary. In the course of 

 many years' collecting, I have so often been accused of being a means of destroy- 

 ing bird life, that it seemed very much worth while to know definitely to what 

 lengths a bird will go in laying after it has repeatedly lost its eggs. While the 

 experiments are by no means exhaustive, they unquestionably tend to support 

 the editorial claim, and to prove that scientific egg collecting is a factor which 

 in no wise affects the increase or decrease of bird life. 



1. Riparia fidigula, The Rock Martin. A pair of this species built a nest 

 against the door frame of an outbuilding adjacent to my dwelling house. They 

 were the only pair within two miles so that there is no doubt about the eggs 

 being all from one pair. On Oct. 27th, I took three eggs from the nest; on Nov. 

 9th, another three; on Dec. 7th, another three; on Jan. 8th, another three, after 

 which the bird hatched three chicks. 



2. Cerchnets ruplcola, South African Kestrel. The nest from which the 

 first three clutches were taken was an old Sparrow's nest in a prickly-pear bush. 

 The nest had been trodden flat. This was the only pair of Kestrels in this vicinity. 

 The first clutch of four was taken on Sept. 25th; on Oct. 5th, I took another of 

 four; on Oct. 16th, another of four; and on Nov. 5th another of four. The last 

 clutch was laid on the ground under a prickly- pear bush about 10 yards from the 

 bush from which the other three clutches were taken. As I was unable to visit 

 the locality again, I do not know what happened after the last clutch was taken. 



SO 



