BIRDS.— CATEEPILLAES. 653 



the robin ; but their songs are intermixed with several curious 

 abrupt notes unlike any thing English. One utters deliberately 

 "peek, pak, pok ;" another has a single note like a stroke on a 

 violin-string. The rnokwa reza gives forth a screaming set of 

 notes like our blackbird when disturbed, then concludes with what 

 the natives say is "pula, pula" (rain, rain), but more like "weep, 

 weep, weep." Then we have the loud cry of francolins, the 

 "pumpuru, pumpuru" of turtle-doves, and the " chiken, chiken, 

 chik, churr, churr" of the honey-guide. Occasionally, near vil- 

 lages, we have a kind of mocking-bird, imitating the calls of 

 domestic fowls. These African birds have not been wanting in 

 song ; they have only lacked poets to sing their praises, which 

 ours have had from the time of Aristophanes downward. Ours 

 have both a classic and a modern interest to enhance their fame. 

 In hot, dry weather, or at midday when the sun is fierce, all are 

 still : let, however, a good shower fall, and all burst forth at once 

 into merry lays and loving courtship. The early mornings and 

 the cool evenings are their favorite times for singing. There are 

 comparatively few with gaudy plumage, being totally unlike, in 

 this respect, the birds of the Brazils. The majority have de- 

 cidedly a sober dress, though collectors, having generally select- 

 ed the gaudiest as the most valuable, have conveyed the idea 

 that the birds of the tropics for the most part possess gorgeous 

 plumage. 



15th. Several of my men have been bitten by spiders and other 

 insects, but no effect except pain has followed. A large cater- 

 pillar is frequently seen, called lezuntabuea. It is covered with 

 long gray hairs, and, the body being dark, it resembles a porcu- 

 pine in miniature. If one touches it, the hairs run into the pores 

 of the skin, and remain there, giving sharp pricks. There are 

 others which have a similar means of defense ; and when the hand 

 is drawn across them, as in passing a bush on which they happen 

 to be, the contact resembles the stinging of nettles. From the 

 great number of caterpillars seen, we have a considerable variety 

 of butterflies. One particular kind flies more like a swallow than 

 a butterfly. They are not remarkable for the gaudiness of their 

 colors. 



In passing along we crossed the hills Vungue or Mvungwe, 

 which we found to be composed of various eruptive rocks. At 



