. A naturalist in the Transvaal. apensis], but which by its tameness and partiality forthe habitations of mail reminded me of our robin, and,like that bird, is as little molested, save by boys, thenatural enemies of all birds. Many entomologists haverecorded the fact that they have never seen a butterflyattacked by a bird ; but I not only obtained an Arctiidmoth (Einna madagascariensis), which I surprised oneof these birds in the act of killing, but also saw anotheractually pursuing a butterfly belonging to the genusAcrcea, which is generally exempt from these an interval of some
. A naturalist in the Transvaal. apensis], but which by its tameness and partiality forthe habitations of mail reminded me of our robin, and,like that bird, is as little molested, save by boys, thenatural enemies of all birds. Many entomologists haverecorded the fact that they have never seen a butterflyattacked by a bird ; but I not only obtained an Arctiidmoth (Einna madagascariensis), which I surprised oneof these birds in the act of killing, but also saw anotheractually pursuing a butterfly belonging to the genusAcrcea, which is generally exempt from these an interval of some fifteen years Pretoria was PHASES OF NATURE AROUND PRETORIA. 71 visited early in the month of May by a prodigious swarmof locusts (Pachytylus migrator oides] *. Travellers fromthe coast had passed through these devastating insecthordes, which apparently were working their way upfrom the Cape Colony. On the morning of May llthour attention had been directed to myriads of locustsflying near the hills, and some few stragglers were. LOCUST-SWABM IN PRETOBIA. found in the town; but shortly after noon the air wasdarkened, as swarms only to be computed by billionscame with a rushing sound over our heads and across * The traveller Molir met with similar swarms of probably the same locuston the banks of the Vaal Kiver in 1869 ( To the Victoria Falls of theZambesi, p. 94). 72 A NATURALIST IN THE TRANSlAAL. our path. The light was obscured as with clouds ofdust, whilst to walk through the flitting insects re-minded one of the driving snow-flakes at home, as thepale hyaline wings and not the dark tegmina are ob-servable during flight*. Stragglers continually fellout of the ranks, and we heard them drop on the ironroof of our dwelling. The flight was directed atdifferent angles of one common direction, and stragglersconstantly kept up a small counter-stream to the mainbody. The ground was thickly covered, and at sunsetmost of the flight had probably settled for the heaviest porti
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