A HONEY-BIRD 



porarily, and send back the camels in the morning to 

 fill up at the last pool, for it would have been madness 

 to go into the unknown country that lay beyond with- 

 out the ten water-tanks being full of water. 



While I was waiting for the arrival of the rest of 

 the " Safari," I noticed a little bird sitting on a bush 

 close by and twittering incessantly. The guide 

 whistled in answer and off it fluttered a little way, 

 looking back at us all the time. This manoeuvre 

 was repeated, until it led us to a dead stump of a tree 

 in which I found some honey. Taking the greater 

 part of it for myself, I left the rest for this intelligent 

 little creature. It was the well-known honey-bird, 

 and several times on my journey I was able to procure 

 honey in this way. The Somali are very fond of this 

 bird, and will not molest it under any circumstances. 

 They assert that it also leads them occasionally to 

 an elephant who has died in the bush, but, person- 

 ally, I have never had this experience. When I 

 got back to camp, I found that the camels had already 

 arrived, and were being unloaded to the accompani- 

 ment of the usual songs. 



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