20 
HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
(Sterna cantiaca), in full breeding, plumage, an 
occurrence hitherto unrecorded in South Africa. 
The bird was wearing on his leg a ring, with the 
inscription, " Zoolog. Stat. Heligoland, No. 
15632." Doubtless the conditions obtaining at 
present in the North Sea had led the gird to try a 
cchacnge in its nesting habits. 
The lioness and cub which escaped the guns 
of the hunting party near Bindura have been 
making depradatory raids farther into' the heart 
of the Mazoe district. It is reported that they are 
accountable for the slaughter of ten sheep and 
two bullocks on Messrs. Austin and Good's farm, 
and for a cow at Mr. Hunter's. The general be- 
lief is that they have taken again to. the hills, 
but when they are tired of chasing game they 
may return to the more docile and more easily 
captured victims. 
Lions are very numerous along the farming 
watershed in this Territory, says the " Beira 
News," and although they seldom give trouble 
to the settlers they levy some toll on the calves. 
Elephants are also still numerous; and a, big bull 
which has evidently gone " must" is the terror of 
the boys in one of the sections of' the Vanduzi 
area. The other day an unusually large and pow- 
erful hyena brought down a fine waterbuck in one 
of the fields, but received the coup de grace before 
he could get away. 
At the annual meeting of the Griqualand West 
Game Protection Association, held at Kimberley, 
the report noted with pdeasure the fact " that the 
Divisional Council has now adopted a scheme 
whereby its dog tax collectors will be paid 1/- for 
each unlicensed dog destroyed by them. This 
will certainly result in the destruction of a large 
number of native dogs, the owners of which have 
hitherto often escaped the tax." 
Statistics showed that 6,141 head of game 
had been sold on the Kimberley market during 
1917, as compared with 46,029 in the year pre- 
vious, the principal decline being in small birds, 
namely from 38,457 to 490, attributed to. the dis- 
appearance of the Namaqua partridge. Attempts 
had been made to have the korrhaan removed from 
the protected list, but without success, owing to 
the general feeling that this bird did a great deal 
of good. The correctness of* this view was 
doubted by several members and a deputation was 
appointed to wait on the Divisional Council with 
a view to having the restrictions withdrawn for 
the coming season. A suggestion that a portion 
of the "bags" should be sent to soldiers in hos- 
pital was unanimously agreed to, and it was left 
to the Committee to make the necessary arrange- 
ments. 
As the result of representations made by the 
Griqualand West Game Protection Society, the 
Kimberley Divisional Council has decided to re- 
quest the Administrator to suspend the proclama- 
tion giving protection to korhaan, so far as the 
Kimberley division is concerned, for one year. 
GAME PROTECTION. 
In the Transvaal Provincial Council recently 
Mr. Schonken moved the second reading of a 
draft Ordinance to amend the Game Preservation 
Act of 1909. The amendment consisted of the 
deletion from Section 6 sub-section (d) of the 
words "on which game has been confined by 
fencing." He argued that if farmers were al- 
lowed to shoot they would look after the game, 
which would be an asset to them. 
Mr. Kerr opposed. He considered the re- 
moval of restrictions would only lead to the 
slaughter of game. The trekking of some farmers 
to-day was only a pretence for the ruthless des- 
truction of game. 
There was. a spirited division- of sentiment on 
the matter among rural members, several of 
whom spoke. This was commented on by Mr. 
Hartog, who said that fencing had this effect, 
that it kept down promiscuous shooting. He op- 
no matter of party about the motion, and if the 
mover of the Bill could prove that equal rights for 
fenced and unfenced farms would not make for 
promiscuous shooting, he (the /speaker) might 
support the motion. 
The second reading was agreed by twenty- 
one votes to. fifteen. 
The charge for a licence to. kill or catch reed- 
buck (rietbok) in Zululand — except in Ubombo 
and Ingwavuma: — has been reduced to 7/6. 
The Rosetta correspondent of the .Times of 
Natal" states that Mr. McGonegal, of the Lo- 
teni, has done good work in killing jackals during 
the past. few months. No less than nine of these 
animals have been accounted for by him. Wild 
dogs were again worrying the sheep in the neigh- 
bourhood of the Berg a fe wweeks ago, and 
several rams fell victims. 
