84 



Tin-: NIDIOLOGLST 



servant Kipauja. He bad a marked dis- 

 like to this prison, and at each departure 

 would enter it with angry croaks. When 

 in camp he enjoyed unlimited freedom. 



As long as I was present he would sit 

 upon the arm of my chair or on my shoul- 

 der and hold long conversations with me, 

 with a low voice in the harsh jerky tones 

 of his idiom. From time to time he would 

 lay his head confidingly against my cheek 

 or would play with my beard. Now and 

 then he would catch the lobe of my ear 

 softly and carefully with his beak. 



Hermann was cleanly and dressed his 

 neat feathers often and industriously. He 

 also liked to bathe in the burning sand in 

 the glowing sun. 



Whenever I would hold out my linger 

 he would hop upon it and look confidingly 

 at me, with his head turned cunningly side- 

 wise. He always allowed himself to be 

 caught without trouble. 



He developed an appetite which was 

 monstrous considering his size. As our 

 own food alone was not suitable for him for 

 any length of time, I had to arrange that 

 two of my negro boys should each supply 

 him with two long grass stems full of spitted 

 grasshoppers whenever we reached camp. 

 These insects were very numerous and the 

 bovs could catch a suflBcient number in a 

 few minutes by means of switches. 



These two boys were soon known through 

 the whole caravan, and in all earnestness 

 as Hermann's slaves, and in the course of 

 time they were cla.ssed officially as such. 

 I allowed the jest to pass for earnest when 

 I saw how much it impressed all the 

 negroes. 



Hermann often appeared quite like a 

 Chinaman, especially when he ate blind 

 young rats, for which he had a particular 

 fondness. It was the same with young, un- 

 fledged birds. He would skillfully catch all 

 food thrown to him, and using his beak alone 

 would strip grasshoppers of their legs be- 

 fore tossing them into the air to be caught 

 again. Hermann, like all the.se birds, never 

 drank water in his life, the moisture con- 

 tained in his food was sufficient for him. 



The bird soon passed in the camp as a 

 person of importance, and a series of 

 legends were soon woven about him, and 

 days' journey in advance of us the natives 

 would tell incredible stories of him. He 

 could speak German, he flew before the 

 caraven as a spy, and could j^rophecy the 

 future! 



The bird did not like to be alone and 

 whenever I left camp he would go to the 

 tent of the caravan leaders to await my 

 return, when he would greet me with loud 

 cries of joy. 



With all his amiabilities Hermann felt 

 his importance and developed into a little 

 tyrant, and made himself disagreeable, 

 especiall}' when disturbed while playing 

 with cotton goods, a pastime of which he 

 was remarkably fond. Whenever goods of 

 this kind, which are used in Africa as a 

 medium of exchange, were cut in pieces 

 for any purpose and laid in a pile of irre- 

 gular folds upon the ground he would hop 

 in and take possession of them to play 

 with them and bathe in them. Woe to 

 anyone besides me who dared disturb him 

 in this pastime. Hermann would then go 

 into a furious rage. His fits of anger were 

 very comical especially when directed 

 against women and children for whom he 

 had an especial dislike. As soon as he saw 

 a woman he would rush towards her in in- 

 describable fury and would give expression 

 to his hostility by rufiiing his feathers, 

 flapping his wings, and snapping with his 

 beak. The small children of the caravan 

 had a deadly fear of the little fellow, for 

 no one dared defend himself against him. 

 Even Dr. Bohm was forced to abandon the 

 field to him after having provoked his 

 anger by accidentally knocking him from a 

 chair with his hand. Thus the friendship 

 between them, which had hitherto ])een un- 

 interrupted, received an irreparable injur}'. 



Hermann bore all the numerous hard- 

 ships of travel very well. After the death 

 of my poor friend Bohm he was my only 

 tent-mate, and he richly repaid my favors 

 by his amiable, droll and friendly maimers. 

 He shared my joys and sorrows for about 

 two years and then pitiless death claimed 

 its little victim. 



Returning alone from Katanga, beyond 

 the Tanganjika, I stop])ed for several weeks 

 at Karema, then a Belgian station. One 

 day I noticed Hermann, who, like many 

 other l)irds, loved to play with bright ob- 

 jects, holding a tube of water colors in his 

 beak. A blow with his beak must have 

 pierced the thin tin-foil and the poisonous 

 green paint which filled it ran out through 

 the opening like a worm. The bird prol)- 

 ably thought this was an insect and in a 

 trice he had swallowed the paint before I 

 could stop him. All my attempts to make 

 the bird vomit were incfTectual. The poor 



