BIRDS OF THE CONGO 
By James P. Chapin 
Illustrations from photographs by Herbert Lang 
HE Congo offers wonderful op- 
portunity to the naturalist, and 
surely it will be difficult for one 
who from childhood has been a bird- 
lover to express the fascination of bird 
study in central Africa —to tell the 
charm of knowing the birds of a Congo 
forest almost as he knew those of the 
woods of his boyhood, recognizing them 
by their voices, finding their nests, 
investigating their ways of life, their 
food and enemies; and finally of culti- 
vating this acquaintance for more than 
five years.! 
In a country like tropical Africa, of 
course all serious study must be inti- 
mately correlated with collecting, for 
exact knowledge is otherwise impossible. 
The preparation and care of specimens, 
although apt to be more tedious in such 
a damp hot climate, are in_ principle 
much the same as at home; but it is the 
experiences in collecting, and the infor- 
mation one cannot fail to gather in the 
course of such work that prove of the 
highest value. Much of our success I 
believe was due to the endeavor to 
1 For this unique opportunity I am indebted to 
the American Museum of Natural History, in 
whose Congo Expedition I have had the privilege 
to take part as scientific assistant to Mr. Herbert 
Lang, and I feel it my duty here to express my 
sincere admiration of Mr. Lang’s efficient direc- 
tion of the work and my heartfelt appreciation 
of his invaluable advice and encouragement 
throughout our long stay. 
kt Footnote: — Most important among the char- 
acteristic birds of this equatorial forest are the 
crowned eagle (Spizaétus), the black guinea fowl 
(Phasidus), wood rails (Himantornis and Cani- 
rallus), plaintain eaters (Corytheola; Turacus), 
‘gray parrots and hornbills, but in addition there 
are {many smaller eagles and hawks, crested 
guinea fowls (Guttera), forest doves (Calopelia), 
fruit pigeons (Vinago), cuckoos, horned and 
wood owls, beautiful trogons, spine-tailed swifts, 
barbets, woodpeckers, starlings, black-headed 
orioles, bulbuls, thrushes and weaver birds. 
profit by this knowledge as well as to 
rely whenever possible on the assistance 
of natives. 
Negro ornithology is interesting, al- 
though often far from exact. Names 
for birds are usually generic, as might be 
expected. Sometimes one term in- 
cludes all the members of a family, al- 
though a common and_ conspicuous 
species, like the great blue plantain 
eater or the fish-eagle, has a name of its 
own. ‘These have originated 
frequently in the calls of the birds, as 
nakurubu (pigeon), nambulukuku (dove), 
magiligilt (lapwing) and bukw (wood- 
owl). Among the Medje, a_ green- 
backed cuckoo’s plaintive whistled note 
names 
is very well imitated in its name, papun- 
zisodu [literally, “Father is dead, so 
there!’’]. Others are named from their 
habits, as the tick-bird that clings to 
the bodies of buffalos and rhinos is 
known to the Azande as zeregbe, or 
buffalo-bird. 
The birds of Africa are generally 
conceded to be inferior in song to those 
of Europe, yet there are some worthy of 
high praise. Best are the thrushes, 
three of which (of the genus Cossypha) 
are also expert mimics, often mocking 
eagles, hawks, fruit-pigeons and cuckoos 
from hiding places in dense second- 
growth. One of their small relatives, 
an extremely wary denizen of the virgin 
forest, has a song so sweet that my native 
helper christened it the “king of music.” 
On the granite hills of the Sudan border 
and fond of the most inaccessible rocks 
there, is another first-rate songster 
(Thamnolea) of the thrush family. 
The orioles of course have mellow 
whistles, as do also a few of the numerous 
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