The Wit of the Wild 



(r 



day; and from their curious dancing in pairs 

 or in threes in lonely spots. 



if; The British settlers in Africa find them rather 

 easy to tame and amusing as pets, except for 

 their harsh, quacking cries. They indulge an 

 odd habit of prancing around one another when 

 feeding, and occasionally at other times, as is 

 the way of many of the waders. Layard gives 

 an extended description of these antics. 



Their time for activity is mainly in the cool 

 of the evening and early morning. " The 

 quaint-looking umbers," remarks Schweinfurth, 

 author of " The Heart of Africa," " which are 

 generally seen sitting solitary by the shady 

 swamps in the woods, were here [Dyoor, Sudan] 

 marshaled along the banks in flocks of twelve 

 or fifteen ; these birds, with their ponderous 

 crested heads pensively drooping in the noon- 

 tide heat, seemed in their * somber weeds ' rather 

 to belong to the dreary wastes of the chilly 

 North than to the smiling grass-plains of the 

 upper Nile." 



Now none of these features of structure or 

 habit would suggest that anything unusual in 

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