118 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 
reaches to one’s waist, and in places the shoulder, where a few 
weeks ago there was nought but dried stubble. Walking thus 
in the tall grass I put up a fine female bushbuck from its form ; 
in two bounds it was at the river, which in a third it cleared ; 
a splendid picture it made in its fresh fawn coat against the 
vivid green grass and the running water. I should like to 
have said blue water, but as the natives wash their clothes in 
every river round about, it would have been more picturesque 
than true. For fifteen miles in the direction in which the 
antelope made off there was no cover save for a clump of bushes 
fifty feet from where I was, and into this she disappeared 
with such suddenness that one had to rub one’s eyes and 
look at the vacated form less than five feet away before 
being certain that the whole thing was not a delusion of 
the senses. 
The only birds worthy of mention were a heron and a 
marabou stork. All about the plains were the red-necked 
whydah birds (Coliuspasser laticauda), the males of which 
are a deep velvety black with a brilliant scarlet collar ; their 
tails are one and a half times the length of their bodies. The 
females are insignificant little birds of the same size and general 
appearance as an English hen sparrow. The name ‘ whydah ’ 
I believe is derived from 4 widow,’ as other species are distinctly 
reminiscent of ‘ widow’s weeds.’ The lengthy tail seems to 
hamper the bird in flight and leaving the grass or bushes ; and 
I saw one with its tail at right angles along the branch. 
Unwieldy as they appear, attempt to catch one, and you always 
just fail ; at the eleventh hour he seems to get under way. 
The male, or sometimes two, dance round and round the hen, 
who sits in the grass, in their efforts to display their good 
points, till they finally wear the grass down ; I came across 
several of these rings almost bare of grass and about eighteen 
inches in diameter, with the central tuft standing in the middle 
on which the hen had sat. 
Saw two green snakes, probably Chlorophis neglectus, 
basking on the foliage of bushes overhanging the water ; 
they both escaped by diving into that element. Later on, 
as I was returning for my bike towards the P.W.D. work- 
shops, which are situated on the hillside overlooking the 
