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a tree, and gather a few sticks for a nest ; the hen takes some 
feathers off her breast to line it, and lays her eggs. When this 
is done, and incubation begins, the male bird goes to the nearest 
pond, and brings wet clay, with which he stops up the hole at which 
his wife went in, leaving one narrow opening in the centre, and 
through this the excellent fellow feeds mamma and little ones, until 
the latter are fledged and ready to leave the nest ; then he and she, 
from outside and in, jointly peck away the clay, which has by this 
time, under the dry heat, become as hard as a brick, and madame 
and her family make their d'ebut. The poor monsieur is a rickle 
of bones, madame as round as a ball; the Kafirs knowing this always 
dig her out as a tit-bit whenever they find the nest. And what’s it 
done for? An African wood is filled with all sorts of cats, and with 
out a protection the toucan (that’s not right, but let it stand) family 
would soon be improved off the earth, for a hole in a tree comes 
handy to a cat; but the clay very soon gets too hard for his claws, 
and the bird hatches in security. Now come with me towards a 
Kafir kraal, such as those of the Ba-Quaina or Ba-Wangketsi, 
permanent tribes. We walk through the outskirts ; there’s our 
friend the toucan again, but there’s his wife, too, and they keep 
alternately flying to and from that hole in the tree out of which 
many gaping mouths are protruded at each visit. They are the same 
birds, but the house-door is open. Within a radius of five to six 
miles of every large kraal no cat exists. The Kafirs kill everything 
that runs upon four legs for food or clothing ; the best carosses are 
made of cat-skins—I have one with thirty-six pussies in it; and the 
birds have found this out.”—(Big Game Shooting, vol. i., pp. 134-5.) 
At other times, no doubt, the inability of a species to 
adapt itself to new conditions proves fatal. Mr. Hudson 
gives an account of the pampa or creolla sheep, which 
illustrates this point. He tells us that this pampa or 
creolla, living in a country subject to sudden great changes 
of temperature, to drought and failure of grass, is hardy 
enough to exist without any shelter and requiring from 
their master (man) only protection from the larger car 
nivores. “ I have often seen a lamb dropped on the frosty 
ground in bitterly cold windy weather in midwinter, and in 
less than five seconds struggle to its feet and seem as 
vigorous as any day old lamb of other breeds. The dam, 
impatient at the short delay, and not waiting to give it