Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 2 (1878).djvu/291

Rh a more reliable estimate on many points than is likely to be the case with a casual observer. Moreover, the subjects upon which Captain Lucas has most to say are just those upon which a tem- porary visitor would be likely to know least. Called by the exigencies of his military duties many hundred miles from civili- zation, he has met with opportunities of enlarging his experience of camp life and the chase of wild animals, which fully justify the appearance of the present volume.

Wisely omitting all description of the outward voyage, with which every one is so familiar, and saying as little as possible on the appearance of Cape Town, which has already been described by numerous writers, he takes the reader at once to his colonial quarters and initiates them into all that he thinks most likely to interest a new-comer, from a military and sporting point of view.

It scarcely falls within our province to criticise the various statistics, however interesting, which are given of the civil and military life, and the account which is furnished of the mode in which Kaffir warfare is conducted. We shall confine attention to such portions of Captain Lucas's narrative as relate more particu- larly to Natural History.

It is scarcely to be expected that the author could pass Ascen- sion Island without noticing the Turtles and the wonderful colony of Terns which is annually to be found there in the nesting season. So badly is the Island supplied, that the garrison, he tells us, is mainly dependent for its subsistence upon these two sources of provision.

It was not until the author found himself on outpost duty, that he was in a position to observe or make notes on the strange and interesting animal life by which he was surrounded. At Fort Brown, near the banks of the Great Fish River, he employed his leisure hours in learning to preserve and set up birds, of which he found many beautiful species. Conspicuous amongst them were the little Crested Kingfisher, a perfect gem of colour, several species of Sugar-bird (Nectarinea), which were constantly to be seen flying over the Aloe-blossoms, the Orange-throated Lark, the Blue Jay, and the Kaffir Finch, whose black and white plumage and red throat were set off by his long streaming tail, the feathers of which are so prolonged that they droop into a perfect arch, and when flying nearly overbalance him.

The sandy plain on which the Fort was situated was covered