Hundreds Of The `Ibis Religiosa' Come Down The Leeambye
With The Rising Water, As They Do On The Nile; Then
Large white pelicans,
in flocks of three hundred at a time, following each other
in long extending line, rising and
Falling as they fly so regularly all along
as to look like an extended coil of birds; clouds of a black
shell-eating bird, called linongolo (`Anastomus lamelligerus');
also plovers, snipes, curlews, and herons without number.
There are, besides the more common, some strange varieties.
The pretty white `ardetta' is seen in flocks, settling on
the backs of large herds of buffaloes, and following them on the wing
when they run; while the kala (`Textor erythrorhynchus') is a better horseman,
for it sits on the withers when the animal is at full speed.
Then those strange birds, the scissor-bills, with snow-white breast,
jet-black coat, and red beak, sitting by day on the sand-banks,
the very picture of comfort and repose. Their nests are only little hollows
made on these same sand-banks, without any attempt of concealment;
they watch them closely, and frighten away the marabou and crows
from their eggs by feigned attacks at their heads. When man approaches
their nests, they change their tactics, and, like the lapwing and ostrich,
let one wing drop and make one leg limp, as if lame. The upper mandible
being so much shorter than the lower, the young are more helpless
than the stork in the fable with the flat dishes, and must have every thing
conveyed into the mouth by the parents till they are able to provide
for themselves. The lower mandible, as thin as a paper-knife,
is put into the water while the bird skims along the surface,
and scoops up any little insects it meets. It has great length of wing,
and can continue its flight with perfect ease, the wings acting,
though kept above the level of the body. The wonder is,
how this plowing of the surface of the water can be so well performed
as to yield a meal, for it is usually done in the dark.
Like most aquatic feeders, they work by night, when insects and fishes
rise to the surface. They have great affection for their young,
its amount being increased in proportion to the helplessness of the offspring.
There are also numbers of spoonbills, nearly white in plumage;
the beautiful, stately flamingo; the Numidian crane, or demoiselle,
some of which, tamed at Government House, Cape Town, struck every one
as most graceful ornaments to a noble mansion, as they perched on its pillars.
There are two cranes besides - one light blue, the other also light blue,
but with a white neck; and gulls (`Procellaria') of different sizes abound.
One pretty little wader, an avoset, appears as if standing on stilts,
its legs are so long; and its bill seems bent the wrong way, or upward.
It is constantly seen wading in the shallows, digging up
little slippery insects, the peculiar form of the bill enabling it
to work them easily out of the sand.
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