part of the thighs and its long tail are of a deep chefnut color,
and the ears are much ihorter than in the others. Cape partridges
and the Hamaaqua grous were equally plentiful. The
latter is a gregarious bird,- and was met with in large coveys
near all the ‘ fprings o f water. They were fo little intimidated
at the approach of our people, that they fuffered themfelves to
be knocked down with whips and flicks. A new fpecies of
korhaen or buftard was feen here, that appeared to be fome-
thing like the tetriix. or French field-duck, but it was fo very
wild and fcarce that not one o f them could be ihot. The
Egyptian black ibis (niger,) and another fpecies of tantalus,
called by the farmers the haddadas, were procured at this place.
The latter uttered the moft horrid fcreams that can be imagined.
The beak is black ; the ridge of the upper mandible, and the
upper part o f the toes, red 5 head, neck, and abdomen, cinereous
blue ; wing and tail feathers, deep violet blue ; back feathers
green, edged with duiky brown; fhoulders and covering feathers
o f the wings o f a metallic luftre and iridefcent. The
mountain goofe, the Egyptian goofe, and the mountain duck,
were feen in confiderable numbers. The laft anfwers to the
defcription o f the cana; but there is a miftake in giving the
white head to the male, which is found only in the female.
Several other aquatic birds were met with about the Sea-Cow
river, attracted thither by the vaft quantities of fiih that it contained.
O f thefe a fpecies o f cyprinus of a filvery color was the
moft common; and we caught alfo a fpecies o f filurus. The
moft remarkable of the birds were the platalea leucorodia, or
white fpoonbill, the great white pelican, and the flamingo:
We
We faw alfo the common crane {gnus'), the Numidian crane
{•virgo), and the heron (cinerea) ; the bald ibis {calvus), the
Cape curlew, and the common coot.
In the neighbourhood of fuch places as are moft frequented
by gramenivorous animals, the carnivorous tribe are, as might
naturally be expeited, the moft abundant. The peafantry
were, however, much furprifed that no more than one lion had
been feen by the party among the reedy banks of the Sea-Cow
river, a part of the country that has at all times been confidered
as particularly infefted by them, and where they are alfo of a
much larger fize and fiercer temper than thofe of the lower
parts of the colony. The people of SneUwberg are very great
fufferers from their frequent vifits, particularly in their horfes,
an animal to the fleih of which the lion feems to give a decided
preference. The farmers here have a kind of dog that is not
afraid to attack a lion; and it is faid that two of thefe together
have been known to deftroy one. It is as large, but not fo
ftrongly made, as the Newfoundland dog, of a dark cinereous
brown, with black and ferruginous ftripes, a long ftraight tail,
long pendulous ears, and fpurious toes on the hind legs. Of
tigers, as they are Called in the colony, the peafantry diftinguiih
two forts, the tiger of the mountains and the tiger of the plains.
O f the firft, the upper part of the body and exterior part of the
legs are of a fallow ground, with irregular black fpots, fome
circular, fome lunated, and others ocellated ; in fome parts
diftinft, in others running together in clutters ; theTides, belly,
and interior parts of the legs, a white ground with large hlack
m m circular