162 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



few leaves. In the work referred to it is stated to be found 

 " generally in the neighbourhood of water," but this is not 

 invariable, for the nest I found was on a rocky mound in a most 

 arid spot. It contained two eggs, so I presume December is the 

 time of nidification. The internal cavity of my nest is 00 by 50 

 millim. expanse, and 25 millim. deep. The rarest bird I procured 

 was the Red-headed Weaver Bird, Mallmbus rabriceps, but this 

 I obtained from W. Ay res, and but one other specimen had ever 

 passed through his hands during a life-time's collecting in the 

 South African bush. I also brought away with me the skin of 

 Scops capensis, the Cape Scops Owl, and Centropus senegalensis, 

 the Lark-heeled Cuckoo. A flying visit of a few days, after all, 

 gives little opportunity of grasping the real peculiarities of a local 

 fauna, and the short time spent at Rustenburg would have been 

 almost barren in result but for the guidance of the local naturalist. 

 We worked hard during our stay, finishing real work on Christmas 

 Eve, when I smoked the evening pipe with the well-known 

 Anglican Prebendary who has settled in the home of the Dopper 

 Boers, with a small church, a small flock, and no intention of 

 leaving. We had our last insect hunt on Christmas morning, 

 and then after a mid-day banquet — of Rustenburg limitations — 

 shook the hand of our genial guide and companion, and started 

 on the homeward track. We had some good shooting in the 

 afternoon among Crowned Lapwings, Chettusia coronata, and 

 Yellow-throated Sand-grouse, Pterocles guitularis, as we drove 

 along, but the drought dominated, and little animal life was to 

 be seen. On the banks of a sluit we disturbed a Monitor, 

 Varanus niloticus, but this is neither worth shooting nor keeping 

 alive, or rather endeavouring to do so. I once had one in my pos- 

 session for three months, and during the whole of that time it 

 abstained from food, though I supplied it liberally with small 

 lizards, frogs, eggs, meat, orthoptera, and on one occasion tried to 

 tempt its appetite by the offer of a small harmless water-snake. 

 I kept it in a large tank of water with an artificial rockery in the 

 centre, on which it could rest above the surface, which it usually 

 did; but it refused all food and ultimately died of exhaustion, 

 when, by request, I packed its body off to the Grahamstovvn 

 Museum. 



It was interesting to watch the behaviour of the frogs, most 



