656 CONFINEMENT OF THE KOKWE. 



an obstacle to the giraffe, supposing it to have come into that dis- 

 trict from the south ; but the broad river into which that stream 

 flows seems always to have presented an impassable barrier to 

 both the giraffe and the ostrich, though they abound on its 

 southern border, both in the Kalahari Desert and the country of 

 Mashona. 



We passed through large tracts of Mopane country, and my 

 men caught a great many of the birds called Korwe ( TocJcus ery- 

 throrhynehus) in their breeding -places, which were in holes in 

 the mopane-trees. On the 19th we passed the nest of a korwe 

 just ready for the female to enter; the orifice was plastered on 

 both sides, but a space was left of a heart shape, and exactly the 

 size of the bird's body. The hole in the tree was in every case 

 found to be prolonged some distance upward above the opening, 

 and thither the korwe always fled to escape being caught. In 

 another nest we found that one white egg, much like that of a 

 pigeon, was laid, and the bird dropped another when captured. 

 She had four besides in the ovarium. The first time that I saw 

 this bird was at Kolobeng, where I had gone to the forest for some 

 timber. Standing by a tree, a native looked behind me and ex- 

 claimed, " There is the nest of a korwe." I saw a slit only, about 

 half an inch wide and three or four inches long, in a slight hollow 

 of the tree. Thinking the word korwe denoted some small 

 animal, I waited with interest to see what he would extract ; he 

 broke the clay which surrounded the slit, put his arm into the 

 hole, and brought out a Tockus, or red-beaked hornbill, which 

 he killed. He informed me that, when the female enters her 

 nest, she submits to a real confinement. The male plasters up 

 the entrance, leaving only a narrow slit by which to feed his 

 mate, and which exactly suits the form of his beak. The fe- 

 male makes a nest of her own feathers, lays her eggs, hatches 

 them, and remains with the young till they are fully fledged. 

 During all this time, which is stated to be two or three months, 

 the male continues to feed her and the young family. The pris- 

 oner generally becomes quite fat, and is esteemed a very dainty 

 morsel by the natives, while the poor slave of a husband gets so 

 lean that, on the sudden lowering of the temperature which some- 

 times happens after a fall of rain, he is benumbed, falls down, 

 and dies. I never had an opportunity of ascertaining the actual 



