92 NATURE AND SPORT IN SOUTH AFRICA 



from whicli it takes its name, and by its shining coat 

 of cupreous green. Klaas's cuckoo, resplendent in 

 green and white, and the wonderful Golden cuckoo 

 were, too, often to be noted on their way to the forests 

 of the Knysna and Zitzikamma — their favourite 

 haunts in Cape Colony. 



The "Nieuwjaarsvogel" (New Year's Bird) of the 

 Cape Dutch, a handsome dark, almost black, cuckoo, 

 curiously barred with white across the wings, was to 

 be seen last of all. As its name implies, this cuckoo 

 hastens south about the time of New Year. Then, 

 too, we had with us the little honey-guides, those 

 strange feathered friends (also numbered among the 

 cuckoos) which insist — not entirely from disinterested 

 motives — in conducting mankind to the nests of bees. 

 We ourselves had small need of them. Our valleys 

 swarmed with bees, and the supply of honey in the 

 caves and rocks around us was inexhaustible. When 

 we required it, our Kaffir servants brought in the 

 sweet stuff literally by the bucketful. The European 

 cuckoo seems scarcely to come quite so far south as 

 the Cape Colony. At all events its presence has not 

 been noted there. Yet in Damaraland, not so very 

 far north, it is known as a visitant. 



The Berg canary and Cape canary, both pleasant 

 songsters, red-headed and other larks, rock-thrushes, 

 waxbills, and many other small birds, added life 

 and interest to oar landscapes. Among birds of 



