SOUTH AFRICAN SHELDRAKE 249 



excepting what is contained in a few isolated notes. Grant and Seimund found them 

 nesting in the hole of an ant-bear or porcupine, and it took them from five to six 

 hours to dig one out. The clutch numbers eight to ten eggs of a creamy -white color, 

 measuring 65 to 71 mm. by 46 to 59 mm. (Sharpe, 1904). Other nests have been 

 found among rocks above the Orange River (C. H. T. Whitehead, 1903). 



In September, broods three and four weeks old were seen (Holub and von Pelzeln, 

 1882), so that it is probably an early-spring breeder, like the Ruddy Sheldrake. 



It is said that these birds are most indifferent eating, being both rank and tough 

 (Horsbrugh, 1912), but the Boer farmers, who are not hypercritical in their tastes, 

 consider them a delicacy (Sharpe, 1904). 



Thomas Eyton (1838) mentions the introduction of this Sheldrake into England 

 in a live state by Lord Derby. I find reference to another specimen imported into 

 Europe in 1849. This bird was also owned by Lord Derby, and, when Knowsley was 

 sold in 1851, it was purchased by the London Zoological Society. It died in 1862. 

 In 1855 and 1856 this bird, which was a female, mated with a Ruddy Sheldrake, and 

 in the two following years with one of her own offspring of this cross. Finally, in 1859, 

 she mated with a Common Sheldrake (Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1864, p. 190). 



In South Africa these birds were kept half-tamed in the farmyards of the 

 Boer settlers. Holub and von Pelzeln (1882) describe them as feeding partly in 

 swamps, and partly on bits of corn or vegetable matter thrown to the barnyard 

 poultry. Such a handsome bird was a great ornament to these lonely farms. In 

 more recent times it is evidently less commonly kept, for Horsbrugh (1912) states 

 that most of his journeys to see the specimens reported to him, ended in disappoint- 

 ment at the sight of Egyptian Geese. Only once did he find a pair which a Boer had 

 caught while still young, as the mother was leading them over the veldt. 



A pair was received by the New York Zoological Society in 1920 but the male 

 was in poor condition and soon died. The female, a fine bird, is still alive and was 

 studied by Mr. Fuertes in making his plate. I saw a single live specimen at Woburn 

 Park, England, in 1922, and Mr. F. E. Blaauw writes me that they have been kept 

 there before. 



Mr. A. K. Haagner, Director of the National Zoological Gardens at Pretoria, 

 writes me that this fine bird is not in any immediate danger of becoming ex- 

 tinct, and is still rather common near Richmond in the Cape Province. He adds 

 that the species has never been bred in confinement there. 



