136 TRAVELS IN 
Africa which I travelled, I will freely confefs, 
that I had formed of it too extravagant an 
idea ; for, of birds, I found no other kinds than 
are to be met with in abundance through the 
whole diftri£t of Conftantia, Ronde-Bofch, and 
Nieuw-land ; vs^here they may be obtained with 
lefs trouble than on thofe lofty mountains, 
which arefo difficult to be climbed. One alone 
feemed to prefer a habitation among thefe fteep 
rocks ; which was a particular kind of wood- 
pecker, of the fize of our green wood-pecker, 
and with a reddiih belly. Nature, who does 
not confine herfelf to general rules, and who 
takes pleafare in attending to the minuteft de- 
tails, fporting with the fyfteras of our metho- 
dical naturaliixs, has given to this red-belllec} 
wood-pecker, habits the very reverfe of what 
are obfervable in all other birds that we know 
of the fame fpecies ; for it never climbs trees, 
but perches itfelf, like other winged animals, 
upon the branches, and feeks its food in the 
earth, into which it forces its bill, and its long 
tongue, armed with a dart, to drag out its 
prey, in the fame manner as other wood-peck- 
ers do on worm-eaten trunks. 
The only quadrupeds that inhabit thefe 
6 heights, 
