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Scientific Results of the Vernay Lang Kalahari Expedition Birds.Pdf ANNALE ANNALS VAN DIE OF THE TRANSVAAL MUSEUM VOL. 16 PART I SCIENTIFIC RESULTS OF THE VERNAY- LANG KALAHARI EXPEDITION, MARCH TO SEPTEMBER, 1930 BIRDS By AUSTIN ROBERTS With Plate I HE Vernay-Lang Kalahari Expedition had its inception towards Tthe end of the year 1930, when .:vIr A. S. Vernay arranged with .:vIr Herbert Lang (who was then a guest of the Transvaal .:vIuseum) to combine a sporting and scientific expedition across the unknown central Kalahari to Ngamiland. Mr Vernay had on previous occasions under- taken expeditions for the purpose of securing desiderata in big game animals for museums, and on one occasion Mr Lang had accompanied him and secured much other zoological material for study purposes in Angola. Mr Lang was specially qualified to undertake explorations of this nature from earlier experiences when engaged by the American Museum of Natural History, in which he was Associate Curator of Mammalogy, in collecting specimens in East Africa and the north-eastern Congo. His extraordinary success in the accomplishment of these enterprises had already earned for him a world-wide reputation, and to these successes may be added the present one, as the detailed reports will show when published in due course. Mr Lang has been able to demonstrate that it is not the acquisition of only a few specimens, which become the jealously guarded possessions of a single institution, that makes the suc- cess of an expedition, but tbat by the employment of men who know their business and by their careful collecting of material in such quantity as the particular cases warrant, important facts of value to science can be accumulated. Knowing the great difficulties that were likely to be en- countered and the desirability of securing men of experience who were accustomed to the peculiar type of country to be traversed, Mr Lang proposed to the authorities of the Transvaal .:vIuseum such extensive co-operation as would assure the success for Mr Vernay's generous enterprise. Mr Lang held that only by such an arrangement would Reproduced by Sabinet Gateway under licence granted by the Publisher (dated 2009). 2 ANNALS OF THE TRANSVAAL MUSEUM Mr Vernay be enabled to donate representative collections to some of our great sister-institutions abroad in which Mr Vernay was chiefly interested. After the necessary pourparlers, Director C. J. Swierstra and the Trustees of the Transvaal Museum generously granted all points by which, as it proved later, success beyond all expectations was secured in the field. It was agreed upon that four of the ablest members of our staff, whose salaries the Transvaal Museum continued to pay, would ac- company the Vernay-Lang Kalahari Expedition and that the Transvaal Museum would be the official headquarters of the expedition and would care for all collections made in the field. The Transvaal Museum made a further important contribution to the final success by securing the services of five specially trained natives for the preparation of skins of mammals and birds. It was understood that the material collected be classified in this institution, which should receive such share of the material (including the types of new forms) as it required. Mr Vernay consented to this arrangement, making it clear that he desired the major portion of the collections to go to the Field Museum in Chicago. Subsequently, Mr Vernay arranged that the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the British Museum of Natural History in London should also receive a share of the material. When it is considered how difficult it is to collect selectively in an area like the Kalahari Desert, where animals are scarce and shy, it will be readily understood that it was no easy matter to secure sufficient material to supply the four institutions concerned. Nevertheless, wherever it was humanly possible, enough was secured, and in only a few cases was the representation of species insufficient to supply all four museums. But in order to secure such results, it was necessary to be well equipped with material and personnel, and the original plan was therefore expanded to meet this exigency. The difficulties to be anticipated were, briefly, the traversing of a wide sandy tract of country, where surface water, or water even from wells, was not to be expected; in addition it was desirable to reach Ngamiland during the usual period of inundation, when it would be possible to traverse the swamp area by canoes, for the purpose of securing such rarities that were desiderata as the Sitatunga Antelope. The rainfall-such as it is- in the central Kalahari was to be expected at the end of the summer months (March to May), and it was therefore decided to cross the desert area at that time and by so doing to operate in the Ngamiland area in June and July while the floods from Angola were at their height. This arrangement proved to be the best that could have been made, except that the floods did not materialise and the inundated area could not be explored; heavy inundation in this area from the eastern portion of the Angola plateau has always been sporadic and impossible to foretell. In order to meet the peculiar exigencies of traversing and collecting material in the desert, it was necessary to make special provision in motor transport and personnel. Mr Lang was fortunate in securing the services of Mr Dowthwaite, who had twice conducted Union Govern- ment officials along part of the route it was proposed to follow and who had had much experience in the construction of special vans that would Reproduced bySabinet Gateway under licence granted by the Publisher (dated 2009). ANNALS OF THE TRANSVAAL MUSEUM 3 be suitable for the purpose. Under his directions three closed one-and- a-half-ton Dodge motor vans were constructed, with the sides adapted to drop outwards as beds, two large tanks on the running boards--one of which took the steaming overflow from the radiators and condensed it so that the water could be conserved for use again, and the other to carry fresh water for domestic purposes-and gauze screens over the radiators to keep them dear of grass tops and seeds. Two more trucks of a similar type were constructed without the covering and beds, for the purpose of carrying the bulkier material, such as petrol and water tanks, and, when these were emptied, the bulky specimens of big game animals. A "Victory Six" Dodge touring car was also secured for the purpose of mobility in getting to the hunting fields, etc., from base camps. Mr Dowthwaite was also able to recommend the services of several motor drivers and mechanics of experience: Mr Vlok, who had accom- panied Dr A. L. du Toit in his explorations in Ngamiland in 1925. Mr Robertson, who was well acquainted with the northern Kalahari and spoke the native language, Sechuana, and Messrs van der Berg and du Toit. Mr Vernay took a personal interest in the management of the organi- sation and the conduct of the expedition, and Mr Lang took charge of the operations in all departments. Besides the drivers above mentioned, the personnel comprised the following: Mr Joseph Aebischer, Mr Vernay's aide; Captain Beeching of the Bechuanaland Police, and three native police; Dr A. W. Rogers (Director of the Union Geological Survey), as a guest and in a private capacity as a geologist; and four members of the professional and technical staff of the Transvaal Museum, namely, Messrs V. FitzSimons, in charge of lower vertebrates and invertebrates except insects; G. van Son, entomologist and botanist; F. O. Noome, senior taxidermist; and myself, ornithologist and mammalogist; there were also fourteen native taxidermists and other servants. The total regular staff thus comprised fourteen Europeans and seventeen natives, who had to be transported and generally catered for in a wide area where supplies were unobtainable and had therefore to be arranged for in advance. To meet this necessity, supplies of petrol, oil and foodstuffs in just sufficient quantity to carry the party through to Ghansi district were carried in the vans; in fact, the vans could not carryall of it, and it was necessary at the outset to send supplies forward in advance and dump them and then send them forward again while the camps were stationary at these dumping sites. Other supplies were sent by rail to Gobabis in South-West Mrica for delivery by ox wagon at Gemsbok Pan, 200 miles away, and to Maun, by ox wagon across the northern Kalahari, 300 miles from Palapye Road railway station. THE ITINERARY Prior to the start of the expedition, Mr Lang, accompanied by Messrs Dowthwaite and FitzSimons in December, 1929, proceeded to Makarikari and Molepolole to test out the vans and gain an insight into the conditions likely to be encountered. Some specimens were collected en route, though the hurried nature of the trip did not permit of much being done. Mr Dowthwaite also carried fonvard a supply of petrol in 1-2 Reproduced bySabinet Gateway under licence granted by the Publisher (dated 2009). 4 ANNALS OF THE TRANSVAAL MUSEUM February, when Mr A. G. White (junior taxidermist) accompanied him and secured specimens of birds en route. In order to train five natives in the skinning of birds, and to "run in" the touring car, Messrs Lang and Noome and I made several excursions in the vicinity of Pretoria in January and February and procured a number of specimens for the Field Museum. One of these native assistants, Saul Sitole, had had several years of experience in the Transvaal Museum, and his services were of outstanding value, as he was not only expert at skinning, but by his intelligence and industry did much to encourage the others in their work.
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