Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa, with Accounts of the Manners and Customs of the People, and of the Chace of the Gorilla, the Crocodile, Leopard, Elephant, Hippopotamus and Other Animals

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SINGULAR COLONY OF BIRDS.

palm or plantain leaf, and split this into very narrow strips not more than two or three lines wide, but the whole length of the leaf. Male and female both work at gathering this material; when a sufficient number of strips are brought to begin a nest, and the pendent twig is fixed upon, the birds begin to turn these leaf-strips over the twig, and to interlace them below in a manner which enables the finished nest to shed rain. The birds work with the greatest assiduity with both beak and feet; and often I would see one little fellow one minute holding by his feet and working the fibres in with his bill, the next suspended by the bill and pushing all together with his feet, and then adroitly slipping inside, and, by pushing and working with his body, giving the nest a round shape. The entrance is the last made, and doubtless instinct teaches them to turn its mouth down, to enable it, too, to shed rain.

Sometimes trees on which these industrious little fellows build are quite killed by the weight of so many nests, and by the space they occupy preventing the regular growth of the branches. The nests are used not only to breed in, but also to live in, and each pair breeds several times a year, raising two young at a brood. Of course, with such rapid increase they are always needing new nests, so that the building process is going on almost all the time. It is remarkable that among so many nests, all looking to my eyes exactly alike, each bird was always able to find his own. But I must own that sometimes I noticed a strong fellow trying with might and main to oust one of his weaker brethren from his home, though generally with little success. They have a foreknowledge of the rainy season evidently, for just before this sets in they are peculiarly active in building and repairing, and at such times the village near which they have settled is alive with their merry twittering and active bustle.

In watching these little neighbors of mine I spent many a day which would have been unutterably weary but for them. At last, on the 1st of June, I was so happy as to spy a sail. My heart beat anxiously lest she should pass. But, to my great joy, the little brig stood right in shore. By night I knew that my friends in the Gaboon had sent to inquire for news of me. They had given me up for lost. The captain had orders to ascertain how I came to my death. I was glad to be able to assure him that I was not dead yet.

And now came the weary work of taking in my cargo of beasts and other things; the tedious delays which yet kept me, poor fever-stricken wretch, to the shore. At last we were off, and with a thankful heart I welcomed the cool breeze which bore me back to civilization, to friends, and to renewed health. And here I part from the reader, who, I trust, has not yawned over my troubles, nor grown weary over the story of my adventures and explorations.

WICKER-WORK BATTLE TO DRIVE THE DEVIL OUT.

APPENDIX.

THE FAUNA OF EQUATORIAL AFRICA.

FOR the use of naturalists, I give here a list of the animals collected by me during the explorations described in the body of the book. New species I have, for convenience of reference, put by themselves. For detailed description of the new animals the scientific reader is referred to the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History for 1860.