 |
| A kingfisher of the species Darwin saw in Cape Verde. Steve Garvie / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons |
The broad, flat-bottomed valleys, many of which serve during a few days only in the season as watercourses, are clothed with thickets of leafless bushes. Few living creatures inhabit these valleys. The commonest bird is a kingfisher (Dacelo Iagoensis), which tamely sits on the branches of the castor-oil plant, and thence darts on grasshoppers and lizards. It is brightly coloured, but not so beautiful as the European species: in its flight, manners, and place of habitation, which is generally in the driest valley, there is also a wide difference.
.jpg#/media/File:Flickr_-_Rainbirder_-_Grey-headed_Kingfisher_(Halcyon_leucocephala).jpg){kind=link}