180 J. C. Swan—Notes on a Voyage home from Africa in Winter


wool for warmth and support. I hand-fed the bird all night, resetting

an alarm clock with each successive feed every hour. It is almost

unbelievable, but by morning the bird could stand on its perch, and

by midday was hopping about as sprightly as on the day before—

proving that where Sunbirds are concerned the Horlick’s treatment

will pull them back from the grave.


Among seed-eaters were two pairs of Jamieson’s and six pairs of

Peters’ Spotted Firefinches, six Tanganyika Melba Finches, Violet-

ear and Black-cheek Waxbills, besides a number of the Lesser

St. Helena Waxbills.


The birds continued in the pink of condition until a day before our

arrival at Durban, when high seas sprang up, the thermometer fell

rapidly, and the ship rolled in all directions. The birds, like all the

passengers, looked distinctly off colour but bore the weather better

than many of the latter.


At this stage a small electric toaster with which I had provided

myself proved invaluable for, plugged into the ship’s lighting circuit,

it was just sufficient to keep the temperature in the hospital cabin

up to slightly over 70 degrees. Also live ants’ nests—clods of hard

earth which when broken up reveal the young ants and larvae—were

greatly enjoyed by the Peters’ and Violet-ears, and were, I am sure, the

means of saving these birds during the rough passage into Durban.


By the way, I found that Peters’ Spotted Firefinches prefer cooked,

meal-worms to the live worm, which they frequently left after just

biting the heads off. They are not easy birds to keep in robust con¬

dition, unless they can be fed on some form of insectivorous food which

they like. Live ants in the nest they relish, and will fight over a dishful.


From Durban to Cape Town the weather was milder but getting-

cooler, and my portable electric toaster was doing duty night and day.

After the Cape the temperature rose until we crossed the Equator a

second time, and was warm all the way to the Canary Islands, there¬

after gradually getting colder, but by this time the birds did not appear

to care what the temperature was, for they were all in splendid condition.


The ship berthed at Southampton at 8 p.m. one evening in November

and troubles again commenced over the cargo of birds—this time over

the unloading.



