202 REV. ROBERT GODFREY 



mount in the air and hover around, continually beating 

 his wings and clicking his hardest, he repeats to him- 

 self, if he knows it, the Kafir women's song to their trusty 

 confidant : — > 



" Lead me, nonqane, up to heaven, 

 That I nuay find the man of the single heart, 

 For the men of this land are all double-hearted.'' 



The tinky is a favourite with everybody, even with the 

 little Kafir herd-boys, who are lost in wonder at his 

 power of mounting in the sky until he disappears from 

 sight; yet this respect for his powel's does not prevent 

 his figuring as the commonest item on these same herd- 

 boys' menu-card. In spite of the persistent raids made 

 upon this species, how^ever, and especially on the nesting 

 females, the bird does not appear to diminish in num- 

 bers. The male is recognised by' his inky-black mouth. 

 Two engaged in fighting were caught by a boy and 

 brought to me; one was an adult male, and the other a 

 young male. 



The clappering noise made by the tinky — best repre- 

 sented by the " q " click in Kafir — is one of the best 

 known sounds of the open, treeless veld ; it is most notice- 

 able from the beginning of October to the end of March, 

 though it is also occasionally heard in the winter months. 



Nesting begins in October and continues till March; 

 my earliest and latest dates for nests with their com- 

 plements of eggs being respectively November 4th and 

 March 13th. In my note-books are entered thirty-six 

 nests, most of Avhich were brought in by my little hunters. 

 The nest is cunningly concealed in a tuft of grass in the 

 ground. In the chosen hole a slight foundation of short 

 and loose material may be placed; this material varies 

 from the very slenderest stems to odd blades of six milli- 

 metres in breadth. On this is built the ball-shaped nest, 

 sixty to seventy millimetres in extreme diameter, that is, 

 from exterior wall to exterior wall. The outer shell of 

 the ball consists of grassy material varving from stems 



