132 Field Museum of Natural History — Reports, Vol. III. 



engaged the necessary porters and returned to Athi Plains, where 

 three weeks were spent at Kijabe in making studies for Lion and other 

 groups, and three days in gathering accessory material for a Colobus 

 Monkey group. We then moved to Xaivasha (June 28th), with the 

 intention of collecting birds and accessories for a group of the aquatic 

 birds of the Lake Naivasha region. Upon our arrival at the lake, 

 we learned that a closed season had been declared, but, anticipating 

 no difficulty in securing permission to collect the limited amount of 

 material required, application was made to the authorities, who, 

 much to our surprise, refused the desired privileges. Ten days 

 were lost in awaiting this disappointing decision. The trans-Tana 

 trip had been indefinitely postponed on account of trouble with the 

 natives at the base of Mt. Kenya, where the government had sent 

 troops, and were at this time, July loth, engaged in warfare, but as it 

 seemed likely that the trouble was nearing the end, the services of Mr. 

 R. j. Cunningham, professional hunter and safari runner, were 

 secured, and we headed for Fort Hall and the Tana River, with the 

 intention of looking for Elephants on the way; three weeks were 

 spent on the Aberdare Mountains, during which time we prepared 

 the skin of one Elephant, a series of Duiker, and a number of other 

 specimens. Upon our arrival at Fort Hall, August 14th, we found 

 H. M. Commissioner, Col. Hayes-Sadler, with his suite, about to 

 depart in company with the Sub-Commissioner, Mr. S. L. Hinde, on a 

 trip into trans-Tana country. Permission was given us to shoot 

 Elephants on Ml. Ivenya, as well as Buffalo on the plains. We were 

 honored with an invitation from the Commissioner to accompany 

 the official party so far as our routes paralleled, an invitation which 

 was gratefully accepted. A week later, the edge of the forest at the 

 base of Mt. Kenya was reached, and here work with the Elephants 

 was begun. The five weeks spent among the Elephants was emi- 

 nently satisfactory in point of experience, and knowledge gained of 

 the habits of these interesting animals, but disappointing in that we 

 failed, for want of time, in securing all the specimens required for 

 the group. The return from Mt. Kenya to the Tana River was 

 distressingly slow and tedious, owing to the difficulties encountered 

 in securing porters to move the material, but the Tana was finally 

 reached on October 2nd, and a few days later we proceeded down the 

 river in search of Buffalo. Some six weeks elapsed before we finally 

 succeeded in securing the last of the si.x specimens desired. The 

 three months in trans-Tana country were months of hard work 



