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.

During the heat of the day all remain silent, and take their siesta in the shadiest parts of the trees, but in the cool of the evening they again exert themselves in the production of pleasant melody.

It is remarkable that so many songbirds abound where there is a general paucity of other animal life.

As we went forward we were struck by the comparative absence of game and the larger kind of fowls.