108 An Expedition to the Zambesi River. 



weed. Meanwhile, along the further confines ut' the reed- 

 bed, several more individuals have crept out from their thick 

 retreats in the same cautious manner, and they one and all 

 commence to call the females to their sides, by uttering a 

 series of deep mellow notes full of penetrative power, which 

 might be described by the syllables " ho, ho, ho,^^ each 

 descending a tone in succession. 



When the breeding-season approaches (about the end of 

 October), these birds may frequently be heard throughout 

 the day, and even in tlie middle of a moonlight night. 

 While the river flows through a land of hushed silence, 

 they are still wide-awake and answering one another with 

 their far-reaching mellow notes, tliat now and again become 

 rapid, in utterance, just like the sound of water bubbling 

 from a long-necked jar. And the silence only tends to 

 enhance the beauty of these notes; so i"ich and so full of 

 soft love-passion are they that one cannot help exclaiming 

 " How good a thing it is to live in this land of nature ! " 



158. CoccYSTES jACOBiNus (Bodd.). 



As soon as the first rain had fallen and the trees had 

 begun to put on leaf, this species appeared in pairs. We 

 observed the first at Zumbo on November 15, after which 

 date they became numerous and noisy, uttering when on 

 the wing loud penetrating notes exactly similar to the alarm- 

 cry of the Green Woodpecker. 



159. CoccysTEs hypopinarius (Cab. & Heine). 

 An adult male on November 8 : Zumbo. 



160. CoCCYSTES CAFER (Licht.) . 



First seen on November 22 near Zumbo, when a male 

 was obtained with its sexual organs in breeding condition. 



161. CucuLUs CANORUs (Liuu.). 



First observed and obtained on November 30, an immature 

 male with plumage much in quill, and subsequently on 

 December 27 a female of the hepatic type. 



