574 ^HE KORWE'S NEST. 



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 female 

 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 prisoner 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 sometimes 

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

 and dies. I never had an opportunity of ascertaining the 

 actual length of the confinement, but on passing the same 

 tree at Kolobeng about eight days afterwards, the hole 

 was plastered up again, as if, in the short time that had 

 elapsed, the disconsolate husband had secured another 

 wife. We did not disturb her, and my duties prevented 

 me from returning to the spot. This is the month in 

 which the female enters the nest. We had seen one of 

 these, as before mentioned, with the plastering not quite 

 finished ; we saw many completed ; and we received the 

 very same account here that we did at Kolobeng, that 

 the bird comes forth when the young are fully fledged, at 

 the period when the corn is ripe ; indeed, her appearance 

 abroad with her young is one of the signs they have for 

 knowing when it ought to be so. As that is about the 

 end of April, the time is between two and three months. 

 She is said sometimes to hatch two eggs, and, when the 

 young of these are full-fledged, other two are just out of 

 the egg-shells : she then leaves the nest with the two 

 elder, the orifice is again plastered up, and both male and 

 female attend to the wants of the young which are left. 

 On several occasions I observed a branch bearing the 

 marks of the male having often sat upon it when feeding 

 his mate, and the excreta had been expelled a full yard 

 from the orifice, and often proved a means of discovering 

 the retreat. 



The honey-guides were very assiduous in their friendly 

 offices, and enabled my men to get a large quantity of 

 honey ; but though bees abound, the wax of these parts 

 forms no article of trade. In I^onda it may be said to be 

 fully cared for, as you find hives placed upon trees in the 

 most lonesome forests. We often met strings of carriers 



