We Observed Among The People Of Katema A Love For Singing-Birds.
One Pretty Little Songster, Named "Cabazo", A Species Of Canary,
Is Kept In Very Neatly Made Cages, Having Traps On The Top To Entice
Its Still Free Companions.
On asking why they kept them in confinement,
"Because they sing sweetly," was the answer.
They feed them
on the lotsa (`Pennisetum typhoideum'), of which great quantities
are cultivated as food for man, and these canaries plague the gardeners here,
very much in the same way as our sparrows do at home.
I was pleased to hear the long-forgotten cry of alarm of the canaries
in the woods, and observed one warbling forth its song, and keeping in motion
from side to side, as these birds do in the cage. We saw also tame pigeons;
and the Barotse, who always take care to exalt Santuru, reminded us
that this chief had many doves, and kept canaries which had reddish heads
when the birds attained maturity. Those we now see have the real canary color
on the breast, with a tinge of green; the back, yellowish green,
with darker longitudinal bands meeting in the centre; a narrow dark band
passes from the bill over the eye and back to the bill again.
The birds of song here set up quite a merry chorus in the mornings,
and abound most near the villages. Some sing as loudly as our thrushes,
and the king-hunter (`Halcyon Senegalensis') makes a clear whirring sound
like that of a whistle with a pea in it.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 494 of 1070
Words from 141202 to 141461
of 306638
