THE 'SWEARING BIRD’ 
371 
late next day, intending to push on during the following night 
as far as we could towards Thlakane. 
The country here supported innumerable black and white 
khoran, a variety nicknamed by the Boers the ‘ Vlug Vogel/ 
swearing bird, from the peculiar call it gives when flying up 
from the ground into the air. This call sounds much like the 
Dutch invocation, ‘Ja Vrachtig, Ja Vrachtig!’ an expression 
the Boers look upon as profane when applied in ordinary con¬ 
versation. From this they have given it the above-mentioned 
name. We had less concern with the bird’s questioned morality 
than with its qualities of excellence for the pot. But they are 
so wary by nature that other measures than an ordinary kick up 
and a flying shot are necessary to bring them within the influ¬ 
ence of the kitchen fire. How this bird, which from its surround¬ 
ings is certainly not much if ever hunted here, acquired its 
extreme wariness is a riddle not easily solved, but another 
quality it possesses in a marked degree, inquisitiveness, was the 
undoing of a sufficient number to supply us at least with one 
good meal. Guided by their croaking call while on the ground, 
it was only necessary to approach within eighty yards, at which 
distance they began to be suspicious, and then quickly to 
hide behind some convenient stump or ant-heap with the rifle 
hidden in readiness to shoot. Before long the bird, which had 
crouched in the grass, would peep up, and betray his exact 
whereabouts, looking of course for the hunter, whose disappear¬ 
ance he could not account for. Then, not satisfied, he would 
jump on to the nearest ant-heap and inspect the neighbourhood, 
whereupon a bullet would end his career. There are several other 
kinds of khoran in Africa which can be easily shot over dogs, 
but none, even in the most populous districts, ever display the 
wariness of this bird. 
