168 THE ODYSSEY OF AN ANIMAL COLLECTOR 
in color with black breasts spotted white, and known as twin- 
spots. They are usually in pairs and were most difficult to come by. 
I got a glimpse of one or two in a palm-nut grove that was over- 
run with long grass and bushes. Here these shy birds had all the 
protective covering they like, while searching on the ground for 
fallen grass seed. Fortunately they had a passion for my millet, so 
I baited patches in secluded spots, and those that I found were 
being visited I continued to bait daily for weeks. More and more 
birds found these desirable food-centers, and then | placed a home- 
made wire-netting trap, constructed on the principle of a fish-trap, 
over the bait. So keen were the birds on the millet by now that 
they entered the funnel-shaped entrance of the trap without 
hesitation, and were unable to find their way out. In this way I 
was able to capture over twenty of a species that has always been 
an extreme rarity in collections. 
Certain birds have learned to feed on the outer oily husk of the 
palm-nut to such an extent that this food now seems an essential 
part of their diet in the wild state. This is a yellowish fleshy 
substance, mingled with fibers, that surrounds the actual nut, and 
which in turn is encased in a thin shiny skin. From this outer 
flesh palm-oil is produced, and from the nut, palm-kernels which 
are used for margarine, etc. The nuts are packed so tightly in 
bunches that they are hard to dislodge except when very ripe, and 
then they turn yellow and drop. It is the dropped nuts on which 
birds and rodents come to feed. 
By using these as a lure I caught a variety of Negro-finches, 
which are normally insect-eating birds but have a passion for the 
oily palm-nut pulp. A most surprising development in this line is 
that the West African Harrier Hawk now feeds largely on this 
diet, which he supplements with more natural food—young birds, 
especially nesting weavers. Even more strange is that a fish-eating 
bird—the Vulturine Fish Eagle—has also taken to palm-nuts, at 
least in the French Cameroons. 
With what was probably my best collection so far, I was at last 
due to leave, and even as my menagerie was being stowed in a 
special covered van waiting in the siding, a woman thrust some 
baskets containing Black Hornbills in my hand. This created a 
