A STREAM IN CAPE COLONY 93 



plumage, the gorgeous sun-birds, kingfishers that 

 flashed in wonderful radiance up and down our 

 streams, and glossy starlings with shining, iridescent 

 feathering, were ours to admire. 



Here and there, pendant over the watercourses, 

 or curiously fastened to the reeds, Avere the daintily- 

 fashioned nests of weaver-birds. The handsome 

 yellow Kaffir fink was one of the most striking of 

 these weavers. Another was the magnificent red 

 fink, which, in its breeding plumage, is scarcely to be 

 excelled for beauty. The upper colouring, of the 

 most intense scarlet, the breast and belly of glossiest 

 black, offer a very striking contrast. Out of the 

 breeding season, the males, which alone put on this 

 handsome livery, degenerate to a plain brown, a 

 colour which the poor unadorned female always 

 retains. In our deepest and bushiest kloof another 

 very perfect bird of plumage crept secretly about the 

 thickets. This was the bush lory {Trogon narina), a 

 rare bird, whose wonderful scheme of colour — green 

 and brightest carmine — made one burn to possess it. 

 This is the bird which, according to Verreaux, has the 

 faculty of renewing the brilliant crimson of its under- 

 colouring, when washed out by rain. A ramble 

 along such a stream, indeed, with the warm sweet air 

 about one, the bright sun overhead, and the wealth 

 of flowers and of feathered life apparent everywhere, 

 makes, to the lover of nature, ample compensation 



