»776. January. WTO flights, waking for its i^ortih'g feohlpariidri;' between eàcfr flight, and farther ëx&fing'him ; fliit 'fleW' tq ihbrter'dif- tances, and repeated its cry more frequently,' and . with, greater earneftne’fs, in proportion as they' approached, nearer to the bees-neftF "I likew-ife faw,;’wiih aftohimtheht, \yhat I had been prévibufl-y'affuréd of byoifiefs',1 viz.'’ thafwhen' this bird has, in ‘Coniequence of its gfeàt impâtièhcé, got too far a-head of its followers, efpeciallv when,’ ' by reafon o f the roughntefs o r -uiiévérinéTs^bf the ground, ’they have, not been able to ' këep ‘pacfe faith it, ; it-MsJ.fldwn back £0' meet them, and with rèdoiibléd cries}'; Üérickihpf ftill greater* impatience, has Upbraided'them for’ being io: tardy. Finally, when it hascoftie to the bees-neft,J wftethfef this 'be built in the* cleft of a rock, in à ftollbw trëè, ' ô i‘in fbme! cavity in the earth,’-it hovers:QvefThé fpôf'fbr më’ fpàce’ of a few féconds, <â oircutnftance‘which I- myftlf hâve bèén; eye-witnefs to twice ; after which i f fits in iilence, ’and for the moil part concealed in lbme neighbouring tree of bufh,/ in expe&ation 'o f What* rriay happen,’ and with' a view‘Jo f coming in for its fliare of 'th é-booty;" J It is probable, that this bird always hovels', more or left, in the manner ju il mentioned, over the beès-nefl, before it hidfes itfelf, though people do not always pay °attferrti»n tb' this'hircumftance' at all events,- however, one mhÿ' b e kflhred that thé pees- ' neft is 'very near,- when, after the bird has tàkén onë'tô fome diftàncé, <it is bn a fttdâén filent. : In’à place Where we halted a couple of days, my Hottentots were conducted by a! bee-ctickow, that was rathef fhy and bbfcuré inits ëxprëflibns, backwards arid forwards féveral times to one and tliC fame ipot, till one o f them, who Was more atténtiVè fo the bird than than the reft, thought of looking out there for the neft itfelf.:'^'' Having, in cbnfequence of the bird’s direétions, dug rip the bees-neft, or otherwife corrie’ at it, and plundered it, they ufually, by way o f acknowledgment, leave it a con-' fiderable portion of the word part, or that part of the comb.in which the ybring bees are hatching; and which, however, is probably-for the bird the rrioft delicate morfel, and indefed, is by no means looked upon, as. the worft, even by the Hottentots.' ; I was* informed by my Boihies-rnen, as well as by the cblonifts, that a man who makes it his confiant bufinefs to go after the bees, fliorild not at firft be too' grateful and generous to this officions bird, but leave for it only juft as much as will ferve to ftimulate its appetite ; by which means it will be indriced, in hopes o f obtaining a more liberal reward, to difcover another fwarm of bees; if there he any fuch in the neighbourhood.- Though there are plenty of wild bees round about Cape Town, yet both thé bird itfelf and the peculiar property it has of difcover- ing honey to others, were entirely unknown there; neither could I, when I firft heard it fpoken of at Groot-Va- ders-bofcb, confider it in any other Kght than that of a fable; efpecially as at the fame time I faw a lad who was' out after one of théfe birds, fail in the objeól of his pur- fuit. In this cafe, however, there was great reafon to lay the blame on the clofenefs and compactnefs o f the wood, and the greater than ufual fhynefs of the bird. My Hottentots fipm Buffel-jaagts-rivier an d Zwellendam afluredme fince, that they had likewife been acquainted with this- bird at the places juft mentioned, where they were born,, but
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