368 
Bulletin of the British 
mountain which rises to a height of some 2500 feet above 
Capetown, introduced me to several birds which I had not 
seen below. The splendid Pro/ea-shrubs just coming into 
flower were the resort of two forms of bird-life which were 
quite new to me in natura. These were the long-tailed 
Promerops cafer —another exclusively Ethiopian type—and 
the Sun-birds ( Anthobaphes and Cinnyris ). Promerops 
appears to have been modified specially to feed on the nectar 
of the species of Proteacese which are so abundant on the hills 
of Southern Africa, but, no doubt, it also avails itself of the 
insects attracted to the same flowers. On Table Mountain 
I also observed specimens of a very fine Rock-Thrush— Monti- 
cola exp (orator, I believe—and an occasional Crow ( Corvus 
scapulatus). Of the latter a single specimen appears to 
have taken up its abode in the garden of Groot Schuur, in 
the society of the Rooks which Mr. Rhodes has lately 
imported from Europe. 
On the Cape Flats just outside Capetown the Secretary- 
bird ( Serpentarius secretarius) still builds its nest every year, 
though I did not myself see it in this locality. A pair of 
young Secretary-birds now in the Museum Grounds at Cape¬ 
town were obtained here in 1898, and two eggs were taken 
from the same nest on the 15th October this year. It is 
curious that our familiar Heron (Ardea cinerea) inhabits the 
‘ vleys 9 in the same district, and that the Great Crested 
Grebe ( Podicipes cristatus) is a regular breeder there. 
<<r Finally, I may mention that enormous flocks of the 
Dominican Gull ( Larus dominicanus ) and the Cape Cor¬ 
morant (Phalacrocorax capensis) frequent the harbour of 
Table Bay, and are accompanied by small parties of the Cape 
Penguin ( Spheniscus demersus). Outside the harbour the 
ships are likewise attended by numerous Giant Petrels 
(Majaqueus cequinoctialis) and occasional Albatrosses ( Dio - 
medea melanophrys)” 
Mr. E. Bidwell exhibited an egg of the Great Auk 
(Alca impennis), which had been lent to him by Mr. Henry 
Stevens, to whom it had that day been consigned for sale, 
