86 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on 



kitten been much smaller the termination of ihe incident 

 might have been diiferent ; two Hornbills belonging to my 

 friend Mr. J. Ballantyne used, I understand, to eat his 

 kittens. 



Our guests love not the Hornbills. When we have any, 

 the latter descend to earth well before sunrise, and almost 

 invariably march straight to the guest-hut door, and Pat raps 

 loudly many times with his hill. An unaccustomed guest, after 

 vainly shouting " C/ome in I" a dozen times, often at last 

 gets out of bed and opens the door, to find himself con- 

 fronted, not by his coffee, but only by two very large and 

 very disreputable-looking birds. 



Both birds delight in "holding up^^ any small Kafir. 

 Only a few days ago I heard a great outcry not far away. 

 Lions were about, and evidently the " boys," who were all 

 in, having food, were seized by the same idea as myself. 

 At any rate, we all picked up our weapons and rushed to 

 the spot. On arriving, we found only a very diminutive 

 " piccanin,'' with a note from a neighbour, shrieking in 

 abject terror at the two Hornbills, which were very quietly 

 " holding him up '"' with w^ide-open but unused bills. Soon 

 after the youngster had been sent back to his master, there 

 was a second and similar outcry. This time, naturally, it was 

 a case of " wolf ! '' and no one troubled to go to the rescue ; 

 but it turned out, from an examination of the spoor, that this 

 time he had actually met a leopard in the path. 



The coffee-picking girls are the Hornbills greatest source 

 of delight. The birds have only to approach for the whole 

 gang of from a dozen to twenty young girls to scatter and 

 run ; and they promptly pursue the hindmost with great 

 zest. Pat has learned, too, that when a girl won't run, or 

 is unaware of his presence, a very gentle nip from behind to 

 the hare calf of lier leg, will infallibly make her run, with 

 many a loud " niai w^l" and " mai baho ! '' Both hirds 

 also attend the putting out of the sheep each morning, arid 

 tollow them for some distance. The spectacle of the sheep 

 running down the slope, as they sometimes do, with the two 



