015 
1921 .] Birds of Northern Rhodesia. 
Sandpipers were on their return migration. I have always 
previously seen this species in Africa on the banks of rapid 
rivers similar to its breeding-haunts at home, but these birds 
were by stagnant pools and doubtless merely breaking their 
journey. 
Among the remarkable features of the country are the 
anthills, their numbers are extraordinary, and their size at 
times prodigious ; they are reported to be largest on 
good soil, and sometimes are nearly as big as wheat stacks. 
In some parts of the open bush all the trees and shrubs 
grow on anthills, the ground between being covered with 
grass or at times sour and bare ; the size of some of the trees 
growing on the anthills indicates that the latter when very 
large are of immense age. It is possible that the heavy 
summer rainfall is the cause of the bushes growing only on 
the anthills in these spots, or it may be that animals do not 
destroy the seedlings on them ; if it were not for their 
presence much more of the country apparently would be 
open grass plains, therefore the anthills would seem to have 
a very important effect on the distribution of the birds. The 
usual shape of these great anthills in the bush was similar 
to the small ones at home, but on the flats by the Kafue 
River, where they occurred, they were generally cone-shaped 
with sides so steep that they were difficult to climb. 
We spent our first month, excepting two days when we 
crossed a part of the river flats, in the country described 
above; there were plenty of birds which, if often unobtain¬ 
able, were of interest—the Grey Lourie ( Schizorliis concolor ) 
and two or three species of Hornbill were very conspicuous, as 
well as Coracias caudatus. I kept a sharp look-out for C. spatu- 
latus , but we did not meet with it, and I only saw one specimen 
of Merops nubicoides , which was flying at a considerable 
height; a race of Melittophagus pusiUus and M. bullockoides 
were the only other Bee-eaters I identified. Woodpeckers 
were not often met with : I saw and heard one making a 
drum-call on a dead tree like our Spotted Woodpeckers do 
at home, but the note was far more powerful; unluckily I 
was unable to determine the specie^, possibly it was Thripias 
