1862-64 LIVINGSTONE'S FELLOW-TRAVELLER 145 



Kew and packed up a case of birds' skins, which 

 will be sent off to-morrow addressed to you at 

 the Museum, that you may take whatever is of 

 interest from among them. . . . Among the birds 

 you will find, I fear, little new. The ornithology 

 seems to differ little from that of the West Coast 

 and contains very many South African species [a 

 long list of names follows] ; one species of duck 

 is wanting, the specimens having been destroyed 

 by insects before leaving the Zambesi while I 

 was away with Dr. Livingstone on one of the 

 land journeys. 



1 The only specimens I have got of a small 

 agapornis were stolen along with my baggage at 

 Lake Nyassa, by the treacherous natives of that 

 part, who nearly had our scalps as specimens to 

 adorn the trees which constitute their Zoological 

 Gardens, or to form part of some powerful fetish 

 to be worn by their headmen. 



' Still, the collection will give some idea of what 

 kinds inhabit these parts. 



' There is one bird, a corythaix, which Dr. 

 L. and I found on our first trip among the 

 Mangunja Hills, one of the handsomest in the 

 country, and very local in its distribution. Even 

 the common birds will be of interest to me when 

 determined, as giving the native names some 

 degree of interest. ... I shall only be too glad 

 to go over them and give any details I may know. 

 Those that are not of any value to the Museum 

 vol. 11. l 



