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Show 114 MR. E. P. RAMSAY ON THE BIRDS OF [Jan. 18, ill temper; and in following its spoor the furrows ploughed the ground, and which are more or less made by all the different species, are so common as, when tbe ground is too hard to enable more than a faint mark to be seen, to prove to the hunter the species he is following. I have never seen more than three (a bull, a cow, and a calf) together. I have found them in considerable numbers from the Black Umfolosi river in Zululand all along the Ubombo range up towards the Limpopo, though as they near that river they become scarce, and I only know of one instance of their being found near the Zambesi. I have, however, no doubt that they existed at one time all over the thorn-country south of the Zambesi, as oral traditions of their ferocity are common among the Dutch hunters ; and no doubt their own ill-temper accounts for their being now partially extinct in that district, self-defence on the hunter's part having caused their destruction ; while lower down to the south-eastward, where no doubt they were originally more common, they are disappearing more rapidly than any other species. I have seen a considerable number of horns from Abyssinia, and they appear to me to resemble in size and shape those of this species, though perhaps a trifle longer ; but until some one will describe the animal to which they belong, it is useless to make guesses which are not founded on sufficient data. It will be seen from the above remarks how very limited my knowledge of the subject under discussion really is; nor should I have ventured to make them before you this evening had I not felt that it is only by each traveller describing what has actually come within his own observation that such questions as the number of species of any animal on so large a continent as -Africa can ultimately be set at rest; and this must be my excuse should you feel that from my slender acquaintance with my subject I have been to any extent occupying your time to-night under false pretences. 6. List of Birds met with in North-eastern Queensland, chiefly at Rockingham Bay. By E. PI&RSON RAMSAY, C.M.Z.S.-Part II.* [Eeceived December 28, 1875.] 174. PTILINOPUS SWAINSONII -j*. This species is somewhat rare in the Rockingham-Bay district; a few only were obtained. 175. LAMPROTRERON SUPERBUS. I found this, one of our most beautiful species, tolerably abundant in all the scrub lands of the Herbert river and coast-range. Their note is a broken " coo," prolonged into a rolling guttural sound at the end ; they may be heard at least half a mile off. But, owing to the dense nature of the scrubs, the birds are at all times difficult to * Continued from P. Z. S. 1875, p. 603. t Where no references are given, the names are taken from Gould's ' Handbook.' |