214



On Cage Birds in Sierra Leone.



pretty owl ( Syrnium nuchale). A bargain was soon struck, and the

owl with difficulty transferred to a larger cage. My boy said he

was so fierce because he was ashamed of having been caught,

and stated that such birds would pluck out persons’ eyes.


After a w^eek or two in confinement he was much tamer,

and, cutting his wing, I let him wander about the bungalow,

when he soon became quite sociable and friendly. During the

day he would sit under the bed or on a dark shelf in the room,

and the night he generally spent in the pantry doing good

execution among the rats, of which we had many. After

having him thus for some three months, one night he wandered

away, and, though I sent the boys round to make diligent search,

all efforts to find him proved futile. A coloured drawing of this

owl pleased the black boys immensely.


Another owl which came about the same time into my

possession was a White or Barn Owl ( Strix flamniea'), identically

the same species as the British Barn Owl. The frame of mind

of this bird was very different from that of the former owl,

being untamable and shy. Both these owls had to be fed

largely on the two kinds of birds mentioned previously.


Several live birds I also had in captivity for a short time

only. Among them were a beautiful little Falcon (. Elanus

caerulens), a Tree-duck {Dendrocyg)ia viduata), a young Tiger-

Bittern ( Tiorisoma leucolophnvi), two Kingfishers, two Sun-

birds or Banana-suckers, and a Moorhen. The last bird my boy

put into one of the cages, but, having misjudged his size, he

speedily escaped between the bars.


The nine months which it fell to my lot to spend at

Rotifunk were rich in interest in the way of birds, both alive and

dead. With what pleasure did I obtain the first Bee-eater,

which there abounds, and the pretty little Sun-birds. To

paddle down the Bumpe River in a dug-out canoe and observe

the Eagles, Herons, Ducks and smaller birds in their native

haunts I found a wonderful set-off against the insidiousness of

so tropical a climate.



