In Wildest Africa ^ 



bird-voice. It rings out through the stillness with a 

 deep double piping note, that impresses itself in a lasting 

 way on the ear. It is the voice of the handsome organ- 

 shrike {Laniarius cethiopicus, Gm.). These shrikes, which 

 mate permanently, always utter this note in such quick 

 succession, one of the pair after the other, that at first 

 you think you are listening to only a single bird. This 

 beautiful bird-note indicates the proximity of water, and 

 thus it has acquired quite a special significance in these 

 countries. 



Finally there is no sound from the throat of a bird 

 that I call to mind so plainly, or so continually, as the 

 song of the African nightingale {Erithacus africamis^ 

 [Fschr.] Rchw.). I have very frequently heard this beautiful 

 song during the months of our winter, in many districts 

 round Kilimanjaro. When I heard it unexpectedly for 

 the first time, I was most deeply moved by it. Ten 

 years ago I heard it during a day's march in the wooded 

 gullies of the great volcanic mountain, and it was most 

 clear and full and beautiful. I never expected thus to 

 hear this northern bird-voice in the tropics. Later on, 

 when I was camped at a considerable altitude in the 

 primeval forests of Kilimanjaro, I was saluted with the 

 cries of northern migratory birds, that, wheeling round 

 the mountain, seemed to be flying over its everlasting 

 snowfields. It was a strange coincidence in those 

 Christmas days, the song of the northern nightingale, 

 and those northern birds of passage on the wing under 

 the equatorial sun! It is worth noting that this voice of 

 the nightingale was the only genuine northern bird-song 



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