18 
BOTANICAL RAMBLE 
5. Dec. 
plumage, and soft and delicate note, often drew my attention. 
To those who have never before seen any of this tribe of birds alive, 
their exotic colors and manners will be exceedingly interesting. 
The delicate Humming-birds [Trochili) of South America are, in 
Southern Africa, represented by the Nectarinice, here called by the 
Dutch colonists Suiker-vogels (sugar-birds), from having been ob- 
served, at least in the neighbourhood of Cape Town, to feed prin- 
cipally on the honey of the flowers of the Suiker-boscli (sugar-bush). * 
The loud and clear whistle of the canari-hyter (canary- biter), a 
species of Lanius'f, is heard from afar, its notes being very remarkable. 
The weather, which was delightful, though hot, gave a smiling 
appearance to every object. The novelty of the scenery, the clearness 
of the atmosphere, and the profuse variety which Flora has strewn 
over this her favoured country, inspired me with the most agreeable 
sensations, and created new ardour and activity. By the time we 
had joined the road leading to Campsbay Kloof, all my boxes were 
completely filled with what I had already gathered, and having no 
where room for more, I was obliged to turn my steps homeward. 
To give some idea of the botanical riches of the country, Fneed 
only state that, in the short distance of one English mile, I collected 
in four hours and a half, one hundred and five distinct species of 
plants, even at this unfavourable season ; and I believe that more than 
double that number may, by searching at different times, be found 
on the same ground. 
Descriptions of all the objects of natural history, observed during 
these travels, are intended to be published in a separate work. A 
list of the plants, arranged according to the days on which they were 
collected, and the places where they were found, will be given in a 
small precursory work, under the title of Catalogus geographicus 
jjlanturum Africce australis extratropiccB, with notes of such particu- 
lars as may be thought interesting. From this catalogue I shall 
occasionally extract some names, hoping that even a bare enu- 
meration, exhibiting the geographical or local associations of plants. 
* Protcca mcUifera. 
f Turdus ~ci/lonus of Linn. 
