THE STEPPES OF INNER AERICA. 187 



may perhaps say that the birds are the first creatures to make a 

 thoroughly favourable impression on the visitor to the steppe, and 

 to reconcile him to the forbidding aspects of other animals. 



The bird-fauna of the steppes is rich alike in species and in 

 individuals. Wherever we wander we are sure to hear and see 

 birds. From the densest forest of grasses resounds the loud call 

 of a bustard; from the thickets by the water-courses is heard the 

 trumpeting of the guinea-fowl or the loud cry of the francolin; 

 from the trees comes a medley of sound — the cooing and moaning 

 of the doves, the shouts and hammering of the woodpecker, the 

 melodious call of the barbets, the simple music of various weaver- 

 finches and thrush-like songsters. The high branches of trees or 

 other prominent positions serve as watch-towers for serpent-eagles, 

 chanting goshawks, rollers, drongos, and bee-eaters, which sit there 

 on the outlook for prey. The secretary-bird, which the natives call 

 the Bird of Fate, runs about among the tall grass stems or hovers 

 above them; in higher strata of the air one sees the whirling swal- 

 lows and other birds which catch their prey on the wing; higher still 

 ,the eagles and vultures are circling. No spot is untenanted, in fact 

 almost every place is thickly peopled; and when our winter begins 

 to reign it sends hither many of our birds, especially kestrels and 

 harriers, shrikes and rollers, quails and storks, who find in the 

 steppe a hospitable refuge during the evil days in the north. 



Few of the birds which live in the steppes can be regarded as 

 distinctive, nor is the general character of the bird-fauna so clearly 

 and sharply defined that one could at once recognize a steppe bird, 

 as is possible with those of the desert. To some extent, however, 

 the careful observer will notice that the birds of the steppe are 

 congruent with their environment. The secretary-bird — a great 

 bird of prey in the guise of a crane; the "snake-harrier" — a sluggish, 

 slow-flying hawk clothed in rich, soft, large-feathered plumage; a 

 straw-yellow night-jar, and another with decorative wing-feathers, 

 a guinea-fowl or a francolin, a bustard or an ostrich: of these 

 we might perhaps venture to say that they belong to the steppe, 

 and are only there at home. It is not the case that the steppe is 

 richer in colour than the desert, but it affords much more cover, and 



