140 THE ODYSSEY OF AN ANIMAL COLLECTOR 
birds in this way with the same good result, though sometimes it 
took several attempts to get the parasites out. If I failed to get a 
good hold at the first attempt it would completely disappear into 
the eye-socket and then I would have to wait and try again later 
when one end of the creature (I never knew which) was level 
with the eye. In only one bird did I fail to remove the offending 
parasite, as it never showed enough of itself for me to get a hold, 
and this specimen died as a result when I was homeward bound. 
With the bird dead I was able to plunge the tweezers deep into 
the eye-corner and pull out a really large specimen. None of my 
other seed-eating birds were troubled by these parasites, and 
neither were my Peters’ Spotted Waxbills captured in Portuguese 
East Africa. In the wild state it is unusual for a parasite to be detri- 
mental to its host, though the reverse is often the case when the 
host is living in unnatural conditions, such as in captivity. 
It was not long before I had a wonderful lot of sunbirds—in all, 
nine species—most of which I captured myself, but one day a boy 
arrived bringing me some Scarlet-chested Sunbirds in a basket in 
perfect condition. This was most mystifying to me as the natives’ 
usual method of capture in this district was crude, resulting in 
suffering, and I did everything I could to discourage it. 
It was quite obvious that these sunbirds were not caught with 
lime or snares, and I knew the natives did not possess any means 
of netting them. What puzzled me most was that the birds were 
all freshly caught, otherwise some would be showing signs of lack 
of liquid food, which was not the case. It was always my experi- 
ence that sunbirds are anything but easy to capture, and I have 
never caught a number at the same time. 
When the native had gone, my cook-boy informed me that he 
had caught the sunbirds by using fermented coconut water. This 
is a sweet clear liquid which is very intoxicating, and it had been 
put into small vessels near the flowers where the birds fed. Having 
once tasted this delicious brew, the birds, it seemed, followed a 
good old Spanish custom, and did not think of departing until 
they were full up. By this time, unfortunately for the birds, they 
were decidedly under the influence of drink and were easily 
caught by the natives. 
I had no means of checking this story but it seemed feasible 
