INTRODUCTION — continued 



Out in the open, however, where he can enjoy 

 the freedom of his natural state, the scientific bird 

 is at his best. There he has to use his wits and 

 develop his eyes to see the various fruits that 

 come with every season. As he must needs 

 quench his thirst, he usually elects to stay close 

 by a river ; failing that he has to become a weather 

 prophet and watch for showers or falling dew. 

 But he is no bird of passage, for he remains all 

 the year round on the one spot, where he finds 

 more than enough within easy reach to satisfy his 

 hungry crop. 



I had the good fortune recently to find the nest 

 of this rare species of the human bird family, 

 replete with all its eggs. As the habits of this 

 bird were somewhat curious, and seemed to me 

 to hold within them some interest and even some 

 example for other human birds, I decided to put 

 them on record in this little memoir. 



Not to anticipate too much at this stage, let 

 me just say that the specimen which I have studied 

 had become acclimatized to the rather bare 

 conditions of the South African veld, to which 

 the colour of his coat had become singularly well 

 adapted. I found also that, like most of our birds, 

 he had lost his song, but that unlike the magpie, 

 which is supposed to covet those glittering things 

 that humans love, he took no notice of such 



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