THE NATURAL HISTORY OF 

 SOUTH AFRICA 



BIRDS 



"Think of your woods and orchards without birds ! 

 Of empty nests that cling to boughs and beams ! 

 As in an idiot's brain, remembered words 



Hang empty 'mid the cobwebs of his dreams ! 

 While bleat of flocks or bellowing of herds 



Make up for the lost music when your teams 

 Drag home the stingy harvest, and no more 

 The feathered gleaners follow to your door." 



Longfellow. 



In the economy of Nature birds take a very consider- 

 able part. Throughout all forms of life, from the 

 humble creatures which are mere spots of transparent 

 jelly, upwards all along the line to the highly evolved 

 sub-human animals, Nature guards against the undue 

 multiplication of species so that those forms of life 

 which increase most rapidly have the largest number 

 of enemies. 



Man fondly nurses the erroneous belief that he 

 is the dominant animal upon earth. True, he has 

 acquired a considerable measure of power and domi- 

 nance, and persecutes and slays the lower animal life 



VOL. i. i i 



