Expedition to the Zambesi River. 
443 
of these birds. They were a perfect sight. In long lines, 
they kept creeping over the wet sand, neither turning to the 
right hand nor to the left, their long necks well craned 
down, all busy feeding, looking at a distance like so many 
cattle in the act of grazing. On starting for another feeding- 
ground they would all close up in a dense formation, while 
one bird advanced as the pioneer of the great band, and not 
till it had lowered its neck to feed on the new ground did 
the others dream of doing so. And when the heavy dusk 
came on they were still feeding. 
228. Plectropterus gambensis (Linn.). 
Small parties occasionally observed. 
229. Sarcidiornis melanonota (Penn.). 
An adult male from a small brook near the Kafue river, 
on Jan. 8. 
230. Dendrocycna yiduata (Linn.). 
Seen now and again in large flocks, 15 to 20 in number. 
While at Zumbo we used to hear them at night, taking wide 
circuits inland from the river, keeping up the whole time a 
sibilant whistling. 
They seem easily gulled, the natives catching a good 
number of them in very simple traps—a fiat stone propped 
up by a stick, after the principle of a brick-trap. 
Adult S (Dec. 19,1898). Iris black; legs and feet bluish 
slate-colour. 
231. Chenalopex ^gyptiacus (Linn.). 
Common. Generally known as the a Zambesi Goose. v It 
is often to be found in a domestic state in the native villages, 
but the white man abhors it, the meat being strong and as 
tough as leather. We met with a brood of 13 young ones 
on Oct. 25. 
232. Pcecilonetta erythrorhyncha (Gm.). 
A specimen obtained out of a flock at Zumbo, Nov. 9. This 
was the only time we observed this species. Although it was 
the dry season and the river was full of sandbanks and pools, 
