The cranes, the storks, walked for prey in the prairies, where there was water, or where it had almost disappeared. The flamingoes, the herons, the ibis, and their kind were busy along the shores of rivers and lagoons; the pelicans swam about majestically. All had a good time, but the fish, the frogs, and other creatures had not, for their enemies, the birds, had arrived in great numbers.
CHAPTER XLIV
THE KONGOO, ONE OF THE FISHING EAGLES
One day a kongoo, with white body and black wings, looking at his mate, who was of a dark grayish color, said to her: “It is about time for us to go to the Eliva Monon (the river of mullets), for the dry season has begun there, and the river will be full of mullets and other fish. It is a long journey, and we shall have to get our living on the way. We cannot fish by the shore, for heavy white breakers roll on the beach all the way. When we undertake this long journey, we shall have as usual to tarry by the sides of the rivers and lagoons near the sea in order to get our food.”
The two kongoos loved to go to the Eliva Monon every dry season, for they had been born by its waters, had built their nests and had raised their young ones there. The next day they prepared themselves for their journey, for by following the shore the Eliva Monon was nearly three thousand miles away. They took oil from the bag which nature had provided for them, and with their greasy beaks combed their feathers, which took them an hour or two. When their toilet was made, they went fishing, so that they should not start with empty stomachs, and after their meal they combed their feathers again; but it took them only a short time, and they finished by passing their beaks over their thick powerful talons. Then they rose in the air, and flew toward the Eliva Monon, their big spreading wings carrying them very fast.
The two kongoos knew every part of the shore, the capes, the smallest points, the bays, the coves, the rivers, the hills, the trees; nothing escaped their eyes. This minute knowledge of the coast is given to all the fishing eagles. No sea captain, no pilot, no matter how expert, can recognize any spot or part of the coast so well or so quickly as the fishing eagles.
As they flew and passed over creeks, lagoons, and rivers, they saw in the water flocks of pelicans, and would say to each other, “See, the pelicans are fishing; look at their pouches; they are filled with fish.” Farther on they would see red long-legged flamingoes walking in the water, or flying over it, looking like a mass of burning embers. They saw also many long-legged cranes, nearly five feet high, ugly marabouts with their beautiful light feathers, and herons, ducks, and other aquatic birds. The kongoos saw also over the lagoon beautiful swallows catching the flying insects.
One afternoon the kongoos rested on a tree and saw a great many bees hovering over a prairie, feeding on the sweet flowers.
Their enemies, the bee-eater birds, had also come to make war upon them, as they did every year, for these birds knew the month of the year when the bees made their appearance in the prairie.
Looking at the beautiful plumage of these bee-eaters, one not knowing them would have thought they were gentle and harmless, but they had to live, and to do so they had to destroy life. Those who did not fear them thought them beautiful. Those upon whom they fed thought they were horrid and fierce, and hated them.
After a while the old kongoo remarked to his companion, “The bees have a hard time; the bee-eaters are killing and eating them; look at them.”