GIO 
BIRDS—CATEKPILLAES. 
Chap. XXX. 
the robin; but their songs are intermixed with several curious 
abrupt notes unlike anything English. One utters deliberately 
“peek, pak, pok;” another has a single note like a stroke on a 
violin-string. The mokwa reza gives forth a screaming set of 
notes like om^ blackbird when disturbed, then concludes with Avhat 
the natives say is “ pula, pula ” (rain, rain), but more like “ weep, 
weep, weep.” Then we have the loud cry of francolins, the 
“ pumj)uru, pumpuru ” of tiudle-doves, and the “ cliiken, chiken, 
chik, chiuT, churr ” of the honey-guide. Occasionally near vil¬ 
lages we have a kind of mocking bird, imitating the calls of 
domestic fowls. These African birds have not been wanting in 
song, they have only lacked poets to sing their praises, which 
ours have had from the time of Aristophanes downwards. Ours 
have both a classic and a modern interest to enhance their fame. 
In hot dry weather, or at midday when the sun is fierce, all are 
still: let, however, a good shower fall, and all burst forth at 
once into merry lays and loving courtship. The early mornings 
and the cool evenings are their favourite times for singing. 
There are comparatively few with gaudy plumage, being totally 
unlike, in tliis respect, the bkds of the Brazils. The majority 
have decidedly a sober dress, though collectors, having gene¬ 
rally selected the gaudiest as the most valuable, have conveyed 
the idea that the birds of the tropics for the most part possess 
gorgeous plumage. 
Several of my men have been bitten by spiders and 
other insects, but no effect except pain has followed. A large 
caterpillar is frequently seen, called lezuntabuea. It is covered 
with long grey hairs, and, the body being dark, it resembles a 
porcupine in minature. If one touches it, the hairs run into the 
pores of the skin, and remain there, giving sharp pricks. There 
are others wliich have a similar means of defence ; and when the 
hand is dra\vn across them, as in passing a bush on wliich they 
happen to be, the contact resembles the stmgmg of nettles. From 
the great number of caterpillars seen, we have a considerable 
variety of butterflies. One particular kind flies more lilie a 
swallow than a butterfly. They are not remarkable for the gaudi¬ 
ness of then’ colours. 
In passing along we crossed the hills Vungue or Mvungwe, 
wliich we found to be composed of various eruptive rocks. At 
