272 KLOOF AND KARROO. 



Anon, a soft rose flush mantles the lower eastern sky. 

 Slowly the glorious day comes, heralded by sweet 

 forerunners of light, painted in every conceivable 

 tint of red and rose, of amber, blue, and green. 

 Now the mountain tops flush as if with pleasure at 

 the coming of the rising king, glorious streamers 

 flaunt and float upwards in the sky, and, finally, all 

 but broad daylight rests upon the earth. But, 

 surrounded as we are by mountains, we cannot yet 

 actually behold the sun. 



With the advent of daylight. Nature begins slowly 

 to open her eyes. First is heard the sweet piping 

 notes of the mountain canary — the "berg canarie " 

 of the Boers {Amadina alario of Linnaeus). As a 

 rule, the Cape is not famous for its songsters, and the 

 radiant colouring of much of its feathered life but 

 ill supplies the deficiency ; but this bird and the 

 common Cape canary [Fringilla canicollis) are notable 

 exceptions to the rule. The mountain canary, of 

 which I speak, is a neat little fellow, reddish-brown 

 coloured above and as to its tail ; the under parts 

 are white, while the head, throat, and neck are black. 

 The sweet-tongued bird, after hopping about a little 

 not far from us, presently shakes off" the heaviness of 

 night, and pulling himself together with some pick- 

 me-up discovered among the seeds and berries, flies 

 hither and thither singing merrily between times. It 

 is not long before others of his species join him and 

 add to the melody. 



Soon after, as the sun gets warmer and thrusts 

 away the chill night air, a stout rock-thrush and his 

 mate come hopping along in and out of the boulders 

 that lie in such wild confusion around us. The 

 cock bird, as he ought to do, runs first ; he is a fine 



