CHAPTEE II 



PEIENDS OP THE AGEICULTUEIST 



LOCUST BIRDS 



PiKST on the list of useful birds inhabiting South Africa 

 come the five species of Locust Birds belonging to three 

 widely divergent ornithological groups. They are protected 

 by law in the Transvaal. 



The true Locust Bird, or Klein Springhaan Vogel, as the 

 Boers call it, is the celebrated Wattled Starling {Creatophora 

 carunculata). These birds belong to the Starhng family 

 (SturnidcB), and follow the swarms of locusts in flocks, 

 nesting in the vicinity of locust hatcheries and feeding 

 themselves and their young on the young locusts, or voet- 

 gangers (walkers), as the wingless immature insects are 

 called. 



During the month of December, 1895, a flock of these birds 

 visited the Albany Division, Cape Colony, and nested close 

 to the Chumie Kiver, near Koonap, Mr. Ivy informs me. 



There were a few single nests — these in each case measured 

 about 2 feet by 1 foot in size — but for the most part the 

 nests were grouped together in threes and fours in single 

 trees. Some small thorn-trees were literally enveloped in 

 three or four nests. There were about fifty or sixty nests 

 within a radius of almost as many yards ; within this space 

 there was hardly a tree that had not at least one nest. 



