THE ESTUARY 141 



as he hovers over the narrow channel of water that now 

 does duty for the stream ; but still he listens more than 

 he feeds, and then flies up as though startled, the reason 

 soon being apparent, as a coloured boy threads his way 

 noiselessly along the narrow path through the bush. 

 A rough road follows the curve of the stream along 

 its left bank, thick woods growing down to the water's 

 edge on the right. 



There were other birds besides the waders that 

 frequented this stream, for after all 'the Curlews and 

 Egrets were merely hap-hazard visitors, and were liable 

 to be frightened away by any suspicious or unusual 

 sound. The birds which made this stream their home 

 were the Pied Kingfishers, of which there were perhaps 

 a dozen or more. There are a great many different 

 kinds of Kingfisher in South Africa, the smaller kinds 

 almost invariably conforming to our notions of what 

 that bird should be, and having the usual brilliant 

 plumage. The two larger species, however, depart 

 from this rule, and are more soberly clad, the Great 

 African Kingfisher, mentioned in a previous chapter, 

 having the upper parts a dull slate-colour spotted with 

 white, the under parts generally being of a dark chestnut 

 colour. 



The Pied Kingfisher, although a striking-looking 

 bird, has no colour but black and white, and is roughly 

 about twice the size of our Kingfisher (Alcedo ispida], 

 and rather more than half that of the Great African 

 Kingfisher. These Pied Kingfishers seemed specially 

 desirable from a photographic point of view, so many 

 birds of brilliant plumage being quite untranslateable 

 in a satisfactory way by the camera, but like many 



