Geoffery H. Clark—Some Birds of the Veld



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made him an excuse for burning powder. There was also a large white

and brown-flecked owl that locally bore the name of Barn Owl. I

think it is very very similar to our Barn Owl, but the passing of time

has rather dulled my memory for the exact plumage of birds,

particularly those I never had occasion to shoot and I could not be

too sure whether he was the exact counterpart.


Among the smaller birds the one that fascinated me the most was

the Flop-tail or Sakaboola Bird. He was in body about the size of

a Blackbird and just as glossily black. Over the shoulder he carried

a bright scarlet patch flanked with white. His chief claim to notoriety

was, however, his long tail, which frequently ran to 15 inches.

It was not stifi like that of an old cock bird, but soft and wavy, and

when the bird was flying with the wind it would blow underneath him

in an attempt to overtake its owner. In winter, however, they would

shed this appendage, and their scarlet shoulder would turn orange

and their general sleek blackness would become a rusty green not

unlike the hue of an undertaker’s frock-coat. During the heavy summer

rains they would become so waterlogged in the tail as to be catchable

by hand. They have a loud and penetrating “ Cheep ! ” which goes

through and through you. One elected to come and serenade me

one hot February day when tempers get frayed. Try as I might with

stones and curses, I could not shift that bird. He would make a short

flight round the kitchen garden where I was working and then would

return and set up this awful noise again. Finally in sheer desperation

I got an air rifle and mirabile dicta, I hit him.


Crimson Cardinals, or, as I have heard them called, Bed Bishops

(this seems the opposite of promotion both in adjective and noun),

are common objects where there are reeds. In company with their

relatives the Yellow Fink (Finch ?) and sundry nameless birds much

resembling Sparrows, they live in hundreds in such places. While

being unable to place them ornithologicaliy, I should hazard the guess

that they are related to the Weavers as they build a most marvellously

constructed nest the shape of a gourd out of grass and attach it to a

tall reed. W T hile beautiful to the eye, they are a rare old nuisance to

the corn, and thousands must be shot annually by exasperated farmers

armed with dust-shot.


One of the commonest birds in our district was what we used to



