610 BIRDS— CATERPILLARS. Chap. XXX. 



the robin ; but their songs are intermixed with several curious 

 abrupt notes unlike anything English. One utters deliberately 

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

 violin-string. The mokwa 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 

 " punrpuru, 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 downwards. 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 favourite times for singing. 

 There are comparatively few with gaudy plumage, being totally 

 unlike, in this respect, the birds of the Brazils. The majority 

 have decidedly a sober dress, though collectors, having gene- 

 rally selected 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 

 caterpillar is frequently seen, called lezuntabuea. It is covered 

 with long grey hairs, and, the body being dark, it resembles a 

 porcupine in minature. 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 defence ; 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 gaudi- 

 ness of their colours. 



In passing along we crossed the hills Vungue or Mvungwe, 

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



