334 TRAVELS IN 
The plntadoes continued to ftun us with 
their noify cackling ; but at the fame time we 
had many fpecies of beautiful birds ; that 
which BufFon defcribes under the name of 
grcnad'in of the coaft of Africa, and particularly 
the lovely bee-eaters, which I have elfewhere 
mentioned. 
My hunters too brought me a very curious 
animal, which I had not yet been able to pro- 
cure : this was the great jerboa of the Cape. 
It is as large as our largeft hares : its co- 
lour Is reddifh and dufky, its tail very long, 
and terminating, like that of the ermine, in a 
tuft of black hair. The planters call it fpring^ 
baas (leaping hare), becaufe its hind legs, 
being out of all proportion longer than thofc 
before, enable it to take* prodigious leaps. Its 
fielh is excellent food. This fingular quadru- 
ped, though abounding in certain cantons of 
Africa, is, notwithftanding, very difBcult to 
find ; becaufe, during the day, it retires into 
deep holes, which it forms in the earth, and 
comes out only at funfet to feed on the grafs, 
which is its chief aliment. 
Bernfry, for his part, had the good fortune 
to kill a male giraffe. It was fifteen feet and 
an 
