Identifier: matabelelandvic00oate (find matches)
Title: Matabele land and the Victoria Falls; a naturalist's wanderings in the interior of South Africa
Year: 1889 (1880s)
Authors: Oates, Frank Oates, Charles George
Subjects: Natural history Birds
Publisher: London, Kegan Paul, Trench & Co.
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Institution Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Institution Libraries

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w, whichseemed to satisfy him. In fact the Boers are just 1 The woodcut opposite illustrates two of the Widow-birds, whichthe traveller collected during his present stay at Tati. The generalcolour of the upper bird is black, with a collar of ruddy brown, fadinginto buff beneath ; that of the lower one black and pale yellow, thebill and legs coral-red. In the winter season these birds lose theirlong tail feathers, and their plumage becomes a mottled brown; a greatcontrast to their striking summer dress. There are many varieties ofthese finches, one species of which (Chera progne), a native of theTransvaal, suffers serious inconvenience from these adornments in ahigh wind. The long tail-feathers are much used by the natives forornaments and head-dresses. The original name of these birds —Whydah-finch—was derived from the country where they were firstfound, and has been corrupted into its present inappropriate andmeaningless form, apparently through some misapprehension or acci-dent.
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verreauxS widow-bird.— Vidua Verreauxii.SHAFT-TAILED WIDOW-BIRD.— Vidua regia. BOERS AND THEIR WAGGONS. 221 as much at home at their waggons as in a house.They have little primitive camp-stools on whichthey sit round the fire, and the women go abouttheir household duties, and the children play about,and they seem quite at home. Of course whenit rains they sit in the waggons like rats in holes—as I have already done myself, and shall nowbegin to do again. You have no idea how mucha home a waggon becomes. I have my booksand all my et ceteras within reach; and, thoughit is a little cramping, the pleasure of stretchingthe limbs when you do get out repays you to acertain extent. I expect in a day or two a reply from the king,giving me permission to hunt in his veldt. I onlywish to go a short distance from here, to the Rama-kwebani, and Shashani, and thereabouts—a tract ofcountry that I know pretty well, and for which Ihave a real affection, so often have I roamed throughits wilds.

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