Vill FOREWORD 
these things are products of civilization—such as are to be found 
in most cities of the world. To me the life and soul of any tropical 
country is its wild life and its unspoiled natives. In short, I am 
merely a nature lover with an explorer’s insatiable curiosity. 
Most of my expeditions have been made alone, but on three 
occasions my brother Leslie linked up with me, and on five suc- 
cessive trips I was accompanied by my Australian-born niece, 
Delys. Her desire to see something of the world was, I think, 
gratified, for she went with me to the interior of the Gold Coast, 
Tanganyika, and Madagascar, and saw something of the wonders 
of the Himalayas and of the Andes of Ecuador. 
Other expeditions took me to Madagascar (twice), South Africa 
(many times), Portuguese East Africa (four times), Kenya (three 
times), Tanganyika (twice), French Cameroons, British Came- 
roons, British Guiana (twice), and Costa Rica, Indo-China, Aus- 
tralia, and Tasmania. One of the joys of going to these places was 
that other interesting countries and islands could be visited 
en route. Undoubtedly travel is the ideal way of learning geogra- 
phy; and speaking of learning, I believe that taking an interest 
in something that forever lures one on to discover more, is one 
of the main sources of contentment in life. 
Much of this book has been written from memory, but with the 
kind permission of the editor of the Avicultural Magazine, I have 
drawn freely from my articles in that journal on the birds encoun- 
tered during various collecting expeditions. 
