SINGIXG-BIRDS — SPIDERS. 303 



forth its song, and keeping in motion from side to side, 

 as these birds do in the cage. We saw also tame pigeons ; 

 and the Barotse, who always take care to exalt Santuru, 

 reminded us that this chief had many doves, and kept 

 canaries which had reddish heads when the birds attained 

 maturity. Those we now see have the real canary colour 

 on the breast with a tinge of green ; the back, yellowish, 

 green, with darker longitudinal bands meeting in the 

 centre ; a narrow dark band passes from the bill over 

 the eye and back to the bill again. 



The birds of song here set up quite a merry chorus 

 in the mornings, and abound most near the villages. 

 Some sing as loudly as our thrushes, and the king-hunter 

 (Halcyon Senegal en sis) makes a clear whirring sound 

 like that of a whistle with a pea in it. During the heat 

 of the day all remain silent and take their siesta in the 

 shadiest parts of the trees, but in the cool of the evening 

 they again exert themselves in the production of pleasant 

 melody. It is remarkable that so many song-birds abound 

 where there is a general paucity of other animal life,. 

 As we went forward we were struck by the comparative 

 absence of game and the larger kind of fowls. The rivers 

 contain very few fish. Common flies are not trouble- 

 some as they are wherever milk is abundant ; they are 

 seen in company with others of the same size and shape,, 

 but whose tiny feet do not tickle the skin, as is the case 

 with their companions. Mosquitoes are seldom so nume- 

 rous as to disturb the slumbers of a weary man. 



But though this region is free from common insect 

 plagues, and from tsetse, it has others. Feeling some- 

 thing running across my forehead as I was falling asleep, 

 I put up the hand to wipe it off, and was sharply stung 

 both on the hand and head : the pain was very acute. 

 On obtaining a light, we found that it had been inflicted 

 by a light-coloured spider, about half an inch in length, 

 and, one of the men having crushed it with his fingers, 

 I had no opportunity of examining whether the pain 

 had been produced by poison from a sting, or from its 

 mandibles. No remedy was applied, and the pain 

 ceased in about two hours. The Bechuanas believe that 

 there is a small black spider in the country, whose bite 

 is fatal. I have not met with an instance in which death 

 could be traced to this insect, though a very large black 

 hairy spider, an inch and a quarter long and three-quarters 



