334 THE ODYSSEY OF AN ANIMAL COLLECTOR 
on the Mamfe side is several hundred feet above the water, so 
that my numerous excursions to the river-bed in the intense 
humid heat kept me in a constant bath of perspiration. 
The most noticeable bird of the river-bed was the White-headed 
Wattled Plover, a water-loving species that favors sand spits and 
bare beaches where its favorite aquatic insects can be easily pro- 
cured. In flight it is conspicuous on account of the large amount 
of white in the plumage which glistens in the tropical sunshine. 
The carpal joint of each wing is furnished with a sharp, slightly 
up-curved spur often over an inch in length, which the bird em- 
ploys apparently for fighting (with outstretched wings). 
There was an island of shingle and sand in the Cross River some 
four hundred yards long by fifty yards or more wide and rising a 
good ten feet out of the water, that was frequented by about thirty 
of these birds. Apparently none were breeding on the island, al- 
though, being safe from mammalian enemies, it seemed the ideal 
place. A flat stretch of sandy foreshore with patches of grass, herbs, 
and small bushes along the opposite bank of the river was oc- 
cupied by a single pair of these White-headed Plovers which, by 
their aggressive and agitated behavior when one approached, 
almost certainly had eggs or young, but my attempts to find a 
nest were unsuccessful. I then set a spring-net trap baited with 
various insects, and was surprised one day to find it sprung with 
some apparently inanimate object in it that I was unable to recog- 
nize until I stooped and looked at it at close quarters. It turned 
out to be a young White-headed Plover—just a ball of fluff on two 
long legs—feigning death. The disguise was so perfect that at first 
I thought it was a piece of drift-wood, and even after recognizing 
it it was not until I caught hold of the bird that I realized it was 
alive. This comical creature continued its “freezing” act in captiv- 
ity, squatting and assuming most unlife-like shapes whenever I 
went near it, until it became sufficiently feathered to fly. 
A few days later I caught one of the parent birds, and thinking 
that nothing could be more natural than to keep the two together, 
I put this bird into the same traveling box with the youngster. 
Immediately the latter crouched in a corner as if frightened out of 
its life. Hours later it was still in the same position and refused to 
be tempted by termite nymphs which had previously been its main 
