STORMING THE PRISON 



the place . . . and was shown a hole high up in the trunk 

 of a moderately large straight tree, branchless for about 

 fifty feet from the ground, in which he was told the female 

 lay concealed. The hole was covered with a thick layer of 

 mud, all but a small space, through which she could thrust 

 the end of her bill, and so receive food from the male. One 

 of the villagers at length ascended with great labour by 

 means of bamboo-pegs driven into the trunk, and com- 

 menced digging out the clay from the hole. While so 

 employed, the female kept uttering her rattling sonorous 

 cries, and the male remained perched on a neighbouring tree, 

 sometimes flying to and fro and coming close to us. Of him 

 the natives appeared to entertain great dread, saying that he 

 was sure to assault them ; and it was with some difficulty 

 that I prevented them from shooting him before they con- 

 tinued their attack on the nest. When the hole was 

 sufficiently enlarged, the man who had ascended thrust in 

 his arm, but was so soundly bitten by the female, whose 

 cries had become perfectly desperate, that he quickly with- 

 drew it, narrowly escaping a tumble from his frail foot- 

 ing. After wrapping his hands in some folds of cloth, he 

 succeeded with some trouble in extracting the bird, a 

 miserable-looking object enough, wasted and dirty. She 

 was handed down and let loose on the ground, where she 

 hopped about, unable to fly, and menacing the bystanders 

 with her bill, and at length ascended a small tree, where she 

 remained, being too stiff to use her wings. At the bottom 

 of the hole, nearly three feet from the orifice, was a solitary 

 egg, resting upon mad, fragments of bark, and feat hers. " 



Frogs, toads, and other amphibians are but poor exponents 

 of the arts and crafts. In this book we shall scarcely have 

 occasion to mention more than one member of that great 

 class, and on the whole it will, perhaps, be best to include 



162 



