222 
Mr. Guy A. K. Marshall on 
made observations without being able to collect specimens. 
Considering the general configuration of the country, it 
cannot be considered as particularly rich in bird-life. As a 
whole, it is well watered and wooded throughout, and those 
large stretches of open treeless “ veldt ” which are found in 
so many parts of South Africa are here quite unknown; yet 
it is only in a few favoured localities that birds are really 
plentiful. A fact which must impress every observer is the 
way in which one may often walk for several miles through 
likely-looking country and scarcely see a bird; then sud¬ 
denly one comes upon a troop of them, composed of 
Drongos, Tits, small Shrikes, Flycatchers, Warblers, and 
Buntings, keeping more or less together in a limited area. 
Personally I have little doubt that this may be attributed 
to the large number of birds of prey which occur here; so 
that the smaller birds find it advisable to associate as a means 
of protection, the Drongos acting as a sort of body-guard. 
My view is supported by the fact that the phenomenon is 
observed principally in the open forest which characterizes 
the greater part of the country; while, wherever the bush 
is more dense and affords better cover, the small birds are 
more generally distributed. 
Owing to the pressure of other work, I have been unable 
to pay any special attention to nidification, and thus 
the majority of notes given on this subject are based on 
the observations of Mr. Swynnerton. My best thanks are 
due to Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe for having worked out for 
me a collection of Salisbury birds sent to the British 
Museum in 1895, and a list of which was published in f The 
Ibis’ for 1896 (p. 241). I am likewise much indebted to 
Capt. G. E. Shelley for his kindness in furnishing me with 
much valuable information, including the identification of 
various specimens forwarded to him recently, and more 
particularly for revising the present notes prior to their 
publication. 
1. Corvus capensis. (African Rook.) 
These birds are seen commonly round Salisbury in small 
flocks, but are more numerous about the outlying homesteads. 
