356 NATURAL HISTORY. 



groups of from three to six or seven, and build their nests in hollow trees, or in the hollow formed 

 by three or four branches striking off from the same spot. They roost in tall yellow- wood trees, 

 and commence calling about daylight. I never saw one eating carrion, as stated in your book, 

 though I have frequently seen them near the bones of dead cattle, picking up beetles and worms. 

 They will eat meat, mice, and small birds, and swallow them by throwing them suddenly in the air, 

 and letting them drop down the throat in falling. I once had a tame one, and noticed this par- 

 ticularly. It is very weak on the wing, and when required by the ' doctor,' the bird is caught by the 

 men. of a number of kraals turning out at the same time, and a particular bird is followed from one 

 hill to another by those on the look-out. After three or four flights it can. be run down and caught 

 by a good runner." 



Mr. Ayres' account of the species in Natal, though often referred to by other writers, is 

 so excellent that no work treating of South African birds can omit it, and is therefore reproduced 

 here in its entirety : " In the stomach of the male were snakes, beetles, and other insects. These 

 birds are gregarious, and to be found here all the year round, but are not very plentiful, generally 

 three or four, sometimes more, being found together. They are very fond of hunting for their food 

 on ground from which the grass has been burnt ; with their strong bills they peck up the hard ground 

 and turn over lumps in search of insects, making the dust fly again. Having found an insect or 

 other food they take it up, and giving their head a toss, the bill pointing upward, appear to let 

 the food roll down their throat. They also kill large snakes in the following manner, viz.: On 

 discovering a snake, three or four of the bii'ds advance sideways towards it with their wings stretched 

 out, and with their quills flap at and irritate the snake till he seizes them, by the wing-feathers, when 

 they immediately all close round and give him violent pecks with their long and sharp bills, quickly 

 withdrawing again when the snake leaves his hold. This they repeat till the snake is dead. If the 

 reptile advances on them they place both wings in front of them, completely covering the heads and 

 most vulnerable parts. Their call, which consists of but one note repeated a deep and sonorous 

 coo-coo may be heard at a great distance. I have myself heard it, under favourable circumstances, 

 at a distance of nearly two miles. The call of the female is exactly the same coo-coo, only pitched 

 one note higher than the male. The latter invariably calls first, the female immediately answering, 

 and they continue this perhaps for five or ten minutes, every now and then, as they are feeding. 

 Their flight is heavy, and when disturbed, although very shy, they seldom fly more than half a mile 

 before they alight again. At a distance they would easily be mistaken for Turkeys, their body being 

 deep and rather compressed, similarly to those birds, with the wings carried well on the back. The 

 little pouch on the throat they are able to fill with air at pleasure, the male bird sent to me 

 to London doing this before he died. I think their principal range of country is on the coast and 

 from twenty to thirty miles inland. They roost on trees at night, but always feed on the ground." 



In Angola, where the bird is called by the natives Engungoaskito, Mr. Monteiro had great 

 difficulty in procuring specimens, on account of the superstitious dread in which they are held by the 

 natives. He says : " They are found sparingly nearly everywhere in Angola, becoming abundant, 

 however, only towards the interior. In the mountain range in which Pungo Andongo is situated, 

 and running nearly north and south, they are common, and it was near the base of these 

 mountains that I shot these two specimens. They are seen in flocks of six or eight (the natives say 

 always in equal numbers of males and females). Farther in the interior I was credibly informed 

 that they are found in flocks of from one to two hundred individuals. The males raise up and open and 

 close their tails exactly in the manner of a Turkey, and filling out their bright cockscomb-red, bladder- 

 like wattle on their necks, and with wings dropping on the ground, make quite a grand appearance. 

 They do not present a less extraordinary appearance as they walk slowly with an awkward gait, and 

 peer from side to side with their great eyes in quest of food in the short grass, poking their large bills 

 at any frog, snake, &c., that may come in their way. Their flight is feeble and not long sustained. 

 When alarmed, they generally fly up to the nearest large tree, preferring such as have thick branches 

 with but little foliage, as the Adansonia, ' Muenzo ' (a wild fig). Here they squat close on the 

 branches, and, if further alarmed, raise themselves quite upright on their legs in an attitude of 

 listening, with wide open bills. The first to notice a person at once utters the customary cry, and all 

 fly off to the next tree. They are very wary, and the grass near the mountains being comparatively 



