NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



of a bird ! What does it mean to many ? A signal to 

 stealthily creep through the shrubbery and slay the 

 songster. 



A beautiful bird upon a bough suggested food or 

 feathers to him, and nothing more. 



For days and weeks at a time I have dwelt alone 

 with Nature and the birds in the forests of Natal, 

 content to study their ways and habits with field 

 glasses, while lying hidden from view. Lying under a 

 forest tree wrapped in a blanket on a warm summer's 

 night, I lay listening to the monotonous hoot of the 

 rat and mouse devouring owl, and the mournful cry 

 of the insect-slaying night jar. 



On the first peep of dawn the woods resounded 

 with emotion-stirring songs and the nerve-bracing 

 calls of its feathered inhabitants. One's mind in 

 such surroundings cannot dwell upon gross and 

 material things. Spiritual desires and emotions are 

 awakened, and the soul feels its kinship with the 

 Creator. 



A friend, whom I shall never forget, was a Boer 

 farmer in Natal. He was one of Nature's gentlemen, 

 and his word was his bond. His homestead was 

 surrounded with plantations which were teeming with 

 insectivorous birds, for that farmer and his children 

 never raised a hand against these beautiful living 

 jewels of the woods. Once he caught a Kafir boy 

 robbing an oriole's nest. The boy wended his way 

 home wiser but sadder. Many scores of times I 

 have sat on that wise and humane farmer's stoep 

 watching the birds, and listening to the stories of the 



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