WITH OUR MEMBERS 



H. W. James, Esq., lately removed from Klipkraal, Tarkastad, to Cliff 

 Royal, Somerset East, Cape Province, writes that the collecting season of 1921 

 was much delayed in the Craddock district by reason of protracted drought, six 

 months in this instance. Whereas, the Hammerheads {Scopus umbrella) should 

 bring off young early in September, Mr. James took eggs in October. The Pas- 

 serine birds, also, were at least a month late. These droughts mean not only 

 late nests but, usually, smaller clutches; and it is noteworthy that all exception- 

 ally large clutches have been taken in seasons of heavy rainfall. 



Instances of second occupation in the case of any Passerine nest are com- 

 paratively rare. Mr. James records a nest of Prlnla hypoxanlha, which was 

 found near his house when it contained four full-fledged young. A few weeks 

 later the same nest contained four newly hatched chicks; and the presumption 

 is very strong that they were the offspring of the same pair of birds. 



Mr. James's collection now contains examples of upwards of 700 species, 

 chiefly South African. The collector plans to visit in the near future desirable 

 sections of Africa now unrepresented in his cabinets. 



Major C. R. S. Pitman, P. O. Hoey's Bridge, Trans Nzoia, Kenya Colony. 

 A letter from Major Pitman, dated September 24th, 1921, although now nearly 

 a year old, is so interesting that we venture to print it in full without permission. 



Sept. 24, 1921. 

 My dear Dawson: 



Your very welcome letter of 9th July arrived here last mail and I hasten 

 to reply, and also will try and give you a brief account of my stewardship during 

 the last six months. Little did you realize when you wrote your letter on the 9th, 

 that it was just a toss-up a few hours later whether I departed this life or not! On 

 the 10th of July I was out after African Buffalo with a friend — and we knocked 

 over a couple of bulls out of a herd of 20 to 30 animals, and had to follow one of 

 the animals into the forest. You probably know what a cunning and terribly 

 dangerous brute the African Buffalo is, and when wounded he is 1,000 per cent 

 worsel He was very badly hit and for the first four or five miles the going was 

 down hill, and the cover, except in a few places, was not very thick, and the beast 

 had no chance of standing and attempting a charge. Just after midday we found 

 ourselves at the bottom of the steep forest-covered valley — and the old "buff 

 had made three attempts before he could get up the steep, slippery hill-slope 

 the other side. What a chance of putting a bullet into him when absolutely 

 at our mercy! We must have missed by a few minutes. The cover was a bit 

 thicker on the other side, and we knew he would be waiting for us not far up 

 the hill. He was too hard pressed to tear his way through the cover, and was 

 following a small track. I was leading and was going to make a detour into 

 the cover to avoid a corner in the path, when I heard the brute snort just ahead. 

 My native gun-bearer, instead of bolting, as usually happens in such cases, had 

 the suicidal curiosity to get in front of me, pop his head round the corner and 

 give the bull the glimpse of his enemies that he required. Down he came with a 

 crash, and the man being between me and the "buff" I could not fire. He es- 

 caped, of course, and I had to pay the piper. I tried to dodge the infuriated 

 brute, but he crashed into me, knocking me onto my face, and then started to 

 kneel on me! I really thought my last minute had come — and it was curious 

 waiting — to pass into the great unknown and to know what it would be like. 

 Probably the beasts wounded shoulder prevented his coming down on me prop- 

 erly and kneading me into jelly, for he got off me and then began to butt me fu- 

 riously with the hard, horny boss on his forehead. After that, having ground 

 my face into the soft soil and filled my mouth with dirt, he half turned me on to 

 my back and proceeded to rip the clothes off me with a sideways motion of his 

 horns. He tore to ribbons a thick serge coat, flannel shirt and vest, and just 

 lightly scored my chest with his horns, but did no real damage. I then had an- 

 other turn of butting on my back, etc., and heartily wished he would either finish 



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