.

Before we had gone two miles several lovely birds had fallen to our
guns, principally of the thrush family, for our way was amongst bushes
on the rising ground.

It is impossible to describe properly the beauty of these lovely
softly-feathered objects. Fancy a bird of the size of our thrush but
with a shorter tail, and instead of being olive-green and speckled with
brown, think of it as having a jetty head striped with blue and brown,
and its body a blending of buff, pale greyish blue, crimson, and black.

We kept on, taking our prizes from the baskets, where they lay in
cotton-wool, to examine and admire them again and again.

No sooner had we feasted our eyes upon these birds than something as
bright of colour fell to our guns. Now it would be a golden oriole or
some glittering sun-bird. Then a beautiful cuckoo with crimson breast
and cinnamon-brown back. Then some beautifully painted paroquet with a
delicate long taper tail; and we were in the act of examining one of
these birds, when, as we paused on the edge of a forest of great trees
by which we had been skirting, my uncle grasped my arm, for, sounding
hollow, echoing, and strange, there rang out a loud harsh cry:
"_Quauk-quauk-quauk! Qwok-qwok-qwok_!"

This was answered from a distance here and there, as if there were
several of the birds, if they were birds, scattered about the forest.

"There, Nat," said my uncle; "do you hear that?"

"Yes," I said, laughing. "I could hear it plainly enough, uncle. What
was it made by--some kind of crow?"

"Yes, Nat, some kind of crow."

"Are they worth trying to shoot, uncle?" I asked.

"Yes," he said with a peculiar smile; and then, as the cry rang out
again, apparently nearer, he signified to Ebo that he should try and
guide us in the direction of the sounds.

The black understood him well enough, and taking the lead he went on
swiftly through the twilight of the forest, for it was easy walking here
beneath the vast trees, where nothing grew but fungi and a few
pallid-looking little plants.

And so we went on and on, with the trees seeming to get taller and
taller, and of mightier girth. Now and then we caught a glimpse of the
blue sky, but only seldom, the dense foliage forming a complete screen.

Every now and then we could hear the hoarse harsh cry; but though we
went on and on for a tremendous distance, we seemed to get no nearer,
till all at once Ebo stopped short, there was the hoarse cry jus