A Breath from the Veldt 29 



He is a strangely handsome and beautiful creature, and I for one am delighted 

 that he is protected, as he certainly adds beauty to any landscape. But as for 

 his snake-killing exploits, I think he is a bit of a fraud. No doubt he does 

 occasionally kill these reptiles ; but the true poisonous snakes are rare in the 

 open lands of the Colony, Free State, and Lower Transvaal, where these birds 

 are mostly found. I don't believe he does any good at all, whereas his 

 depredations are known to be very great among the young of khoorhans and 

 francolins. Now, if Mr. Secretary would only just alter his habits a bit, and 

 confine his hunting to the long grass of the bush countries to the north and 

 west, he would find there plenty of puff adders, horned vipers, and mambas of 

 various sorts, the destruction of which would be of real service to man. To 

 the eye, his flight is exceedingly fine, resembling the grand movements of the 

 eagle. Curiously enough, however, his evolutions in the air are singularly 

 weak. He has no staying power, and in many instances has been captured by 

 greyhounds, which, after keeping the bird continually on the wing for some 

 time, are able to run it down, when finally forced to alight from sheer fatigue, 

 and no longer able to rise again. 



Nearly every family of birds is well represented in the Karroo itself, in its 

 little oases of green, or its pools of water. Over the surface of the great sun- 

 baked flats continually float eagles, hawks, and harriers in great variety. On 

 its dams of water are found the Egyptian goose, the Cape shoveller, the 

 pochard, several species of plovers and little waders ; and in the early morning 

 the Namaqua sandgrouse come to their margins in large numbers to drink in 

 company with pigeons and that exquisitely delicate little creature the dwarf 

 dove, the most beautiful of a singularly beautiful family. 



But, perhaps, the most characteristic birds of this part of the country are 

 the bustard family, represented by the khoorhans and the ostrich, the latter of 

 which is so nearly allied to that group that it may almost be termed one of 

 them. These khoorhans or bustards are birds pre-eminently associated with 

 South Africa, for they are en evidence in one species or another wherever you 

 like to go ; and very cheering are their wild goose-like notes in the early 

 morning and late evening to the heart of the sportsman who is stranded in 

 some wild out-of-the-way wilderness ; for he knows that, having a shot-gun, 

 he still has a good chance of obtaining something in the form of flesh for his 

 supper. Even in the best game countries big game is so local and migratory 

 that the sportsman has to depend to a large extent on the gun to supply the 

 larder ; and but for these khoorhans, which are to be found almost everywhere, 



