Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/290

258 impossible shot, which, though doing the bird comparatively little harm, caused a cessation of the visit at that particular spot.

Although the visit to Pienaars River which I am describing was at the commencement of August and in the midst of the dry season, the social Whitefronted Weaver Birds (Plocepasser mahali) had commenced to build their nests. They are tame birds and gregariously occupied the branches of some trees a very short distance from the store where I stayed. They have also a cheerful note and were continually exercising their short song. The Crimson-breasted Shrike (Laniarius atrococcineus) is here very common, flies low in the bush, and is easily secured. At this season Blue-breasted Waxbills (Uræginthus cyanogaster) are also seen in small flocks, and add a fitful and brilliant colour to the little cleared spots they frequent in the bright sunlight. The well-known and somewhat discordant cry of the Grey Plantain-eater (Schizœrhis concolor) frequently breaks the silence of the bush, but these birds are wary and difficult of approach. They are generally seen three or four together in a high tree, but with crest erect they usually take flight before one can get within range. However, it is not necessary to give a list of all the birds obtained, though reference may be made to the Lark-heeled Cuckoo (Centropus senegalensis), which is not uncommon near the Pienaars River. Many times, at a distance, I mistook this bird for an Accipiter, for its habits are somewhat solitary, and it perches and remains sitting stolidly in some tree near a clearing in the bush.

In November, when the rains were frequent, and the summer season fully on, I found many more good birds in this neighbourhood. Two fine Kingfishers, Halcyon albiventris and H. cyanoleuca, were both obtained some distance from the river and in the bush; the first named I also secured near Pretoria, likewise in bush away from water. The Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis), which, on the other hand, is not at all uncommon, I never met with away from the banks of a stream. Three Cuckoos, Cuculus clamosus, Coccystes jacobinus, and C. serratus, were also far from scarce during this month, and were all secured.

It was in this neighbourhood that, during my last year's stay in the Transvaal, three fine Bateleur Eagles (Helotarsus ecaudatus), one male, two females, were trapped—steel trapped—as their legs