IN AFRICAN FOREST AND JUNGLE 



ing peculiar sounds. What these meant I could not 

 tell, but they were afraid to alight. Evidently they 

 did not like the look of the house. 



At some distance from Rogala*s house near a grove 

 of plantain trees was a tree bearing a red fruit which 

 I knew parrots liked very much. I told Rogala to 

 carry his wife*s parrot under that tree and I would 

 lie in wait there. So Ngozo was taken there by 

 his master, and he began to talk. 



Soon I heard above our heads a flock of parrots. 

 They came down upon our tree and began to talk 

 to our parrot and feed. When I saw three or four 

 in such a position as to enable me to kill them all, 

 I fired, and they fell, and the others, shrieking with all 

 their might, flew away in affright. 



I went after the parrots, which had deep yellow 

 rings round their eyes. I saw that they were very 

 old, but nevertheless I was glad, for I would have 

 some meat to eat. I broiled one on charcoal. When 

 he was cooked, he was so tough that I thought he 

 must be over one hundred yeai3 old. It seemed as 

 if I were biting an old piece of India rubber or a piece 

 of leather. 



In the evening, thinking that the others were as tough 

 as their companions, I boiled them, and I thought that 

 I was going to have a good parrot soup. The soup 



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