Angola and the River Congo, vol. 2

by Joachim John Monteiro

In the bare, arid country of Benguella there are a number of birds, the colouring of whose plumage so closely accords with that of the ground as to be barely distinguishable at a little distance. Such are the sand-grouse (Pterocles namaquus) and three species of bustards, one of which (Otis picturata, Hartl.) was a new and undescribed species.

These bustards are very abundant, and are found in pairs; they have a curious, loud, hoarse, clucking cry, which can be heard at a considerable distance, and are very shy; they run along the ground with great rapidity, and when alarmed fly off in a straight line, but very little above the ground, and when they alight they always run on for some distance. Their flesh is excellent. Several Portuguese attempted to keep them in their gardens, and rear them, but without success.

In the woods of thorny trees and bushes, and particularly in the sandy ravines, several species of small hornbills are very common. Two were undescribed species (Tockus elegans, and Tockus Monteiri), and are very odd birds in appearance and habits. I found that their food consisted of grubs, grasshoppers, and other insects, hornets’ nests, and hard seeds. They dig in the sand with their long curved bills, when seeking their food, throwing the sand behind them between their legs. They look very comical when sitting on a tree, their soft feathers puffed out like those of an owl, and they raise and depress their crest feathers, uttering loud, long-drawn, unearthly cries, like the squall of a sick baby.

They are considered as “fetish” birds by the natives, who state positively that it is the male bird who sits on the eggs, and that the female shuts him up in the nest so that he cannot get out, and feeds him till he has hatched the eggs, when she tears down the nest and lets him out. The imprisoned bird is then very lean and in ragged plumage, and the natives have several proverbs bearing upon this singular habit. In Benguella, when a man looks very thin and miserable, they always say, “he looks like the hornbill when he has been let out of the nest.”

I offered a large reward to any black who would find me a nest of these birds, as I wanted to verify this extraordinary story, but I never succeeded in seeing one. There is no doubt that the statements of the natives are correct, as other species of the same bird, in India, &c., have exactly the same habit; the only particular in which I think the natives may be wrong is in the male bird being imprisoned by the female; it is more natural to suppose that the contrary takes place, and that it is the female who is boxed up.

The “Panda,” or wattled crane (Grus carunculata) is common in the country to the interior of Benguella, and is often brought for sale to the coast by the caravans. They get very tame and playful, and it is amusing to see them make rushes in fun at the women and children, with their wings and beaks wide open.

A trader at Egito had one that used to play for hours with a young donkey. The crane would run at and flap his wings in the donkey’s face till it started after him for a race, when he would keep just a little ahead and only take to flight when hard pressed, on seeing which the donkey would generally give a loud bray of disappointment. At other times the crane would chase the donkey, and it was very comical to see the perfect understanding that seemed to exist between them, and their evident enjoyment of play and fun.

The ox-bird (Buphaga Africana) is very commonly seen on the cattle at Benguella, and the following description of it is from my notes on a collection of birds I made there (‘Proceedings of the Zoological Society’ for 1865):—“Abundant all over Angola, which, generally speaking, abounds in cattle. It appears to feed entirely on ticks: the stomach of this specimen contained no less than twenty-five. Its flesh is very dark-coloured, strong-smelling, and its blood extremely thick and dark. It is curious to watch the manner in which they crawl all over the body of an ox or large animal, under its belly and between its legs, which they are enabled to do by their strong claws tipped with exceedingly sharp, hooked nails.

“The beak is soft, of a bright red at the tip, graduating to bright yellow at the base. I once saw a nest of these birds, which they appeared to be finishing. It was large, loose, of dry grass, and nicely lined with long hair, seemingly taken from the tails of cattle. These birds were constantly robbing the hair from the tail of an old mule I had at Benguella. They will accompany a herd of cattle only for a certain distance, when they will return to their usual locality, and others immediately make their appearance and appear to take charge of the herd.”

The neighbourhood of Benguella, Catumbella, and Dombe Grande is famous for the variety of its small and beautifully-coloured birds, and the Mundombes capture them in thousands, to sell to the Portuguese at Benguella, who export them to Loanda and Lisbon. These birds are said to be more hardy, and to live better in confinement than those caught at Loanda.