146 SOME BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA 



a well-acted surprise that the eggs and young ones had 

 since been removed. I think this exhibition of his 

 perfidy made us decide to dispense with his services 

 altogether ; he had evidently, to save himself trouble, 

 collected all the old nests that he could find and placed 

 them near the same spot ; they were not even fastened 

 to the branches of the tree in any way. After all, I 

 think we found more nests by ourselves than with his 

 help, carefully though most of them were concealed. 



A bird that one is sure to come across sooner or 

 later in the Colony, is the Hammerkop. This bird 

 seems to stand in a class almost by itself, and is in 

 reality a species of Stork, but is of a dull-brown colour. 

 The nest of the Hammerkop is a curious structure, and 

 is placed sometimes in a tree and sometimes upon a 

 rock. The nest shown in the illustration (just beneath 

 the point where the branch cuts the top of the picture) 

 I found on one of the banks of a river that runs into 

 the largest of the Knysna Lakes. In shape this nest 

 was something like an enormous wren's nest, but was 

 built of sticks, intermingled with a great lot of rubbish. 

 They seem to build equally often in trees. I think 

 these birds display a considerable amount of cunning in 

 placing their nests, because although these are so large 

 as to be plainly visible, yet when it comes to inspecting 

 them, I found that their size, and the position of the 

 entrance, prevented my discovering what was inside ; 

 doubtless I could have done so in time, but I was 

 almost sure that the two which I found were untenanted. 

 The Hammerkop seems to be altogether a shady kind 

 of character, and unlike other birds ; sometimes of an 

 evening we have come upon him standing meditating 



