56 
I'icld \()tcs from Mashuiialaiid . 
and, had they survived the journey back to England they could 
always have been turned loose, with, be it confessed, many 
doubts as to whether their addition to the avifauna of Greal 
iiritain would be an unmixed blessing". 
GuiNEA-F(_)VVi. : The wild yuinea-fowl are plentiful again 
now. Two years ago, 1 lielieve, they died off in thousands, 
from the information I gathered from a Dutch farmer, of a sort 
ol diphtheria. The adults are very shy, and when they are 
Hushed this time of year (Jan. — Feb. J they usually go through 
the performance of feigning a broken leg or wing, as the second 
brood of chickens are almost sure to be with them. The young 
at first have bright coral-pink beaks and legs, whicn, as they 
grow older, turn to horn-colour as regards the beak, and red- 
brown on the legs. With their bright yellow-ochre body- 
colouring and sable stripes and spots, the chicks are most 
attractive little people, and can run about and feed themselves 
directly they have dried off after hatching — precocious little 
infants! Their food consists of white ants (not " eggs ''), 
beetles, and insects of various species. ( )ne beetle of dark 
steel-blue is a great favourite, and, as it is protected with a very 
tough coat of armour, is hardly ever killed outright, but instead 
is worried like a rat by the entire brood before the luckless 
creature is eventually devoured. Moths, grass seeds, and 
crushed mealies were much appreciated by a brood I reared 
under a hen. They seemed to relish the crushed mealies more 
than anything at first, but, as they grew older, got more car- 
nivorous in their habits until mealies were rarely, if ever, eaten 
at all. riiey are birds that mature very quickly and soon get 
their full wings; at the age of three weeks it would be quite 
impossible to catch a wild one by chasing it. They nuich 
api)reciate mice and lizards as they grow older, and an adult 
will kill a mouse with one blow of its powerful Ijeak. They are 
terrible fighters, and few people try to domesticate them on 
account of the poultry, of which, if they were not checked by 
being kept in a wire run, they would very soon kill off the entire 
stock. 
( )n(.' (lay, knowing I was always oi)en to hu\' li\ e creatures 
which were brought to me uidun"t, one of the shepherds 
