— 11 — 



At Lake Naiwasha, at an altitude of 6.290 feet, we stayed 

 some days in order to study the extremely rich bird-life of the 

 lake. The flat, grassy land in this neighbourhood is taken up 

 by many farms and until the commencement of the 20th century, 

 the grass was kept down by immense herds of Grant's Gazelle, 

 now very rarely seen here. 



The average monthly rainfall for a period of six (ten) year 

 at Naiwasha is: March 3.42 ins., April 6.85 ins., Mai 3.65 ins, 

 June 4.98 ins. and for Oct 2.70 ins., Nov. 3.31 ins., Dec. 2.13 ins. 

 The total rainfall per annum is 37.75 ins. 



Lake Naiwasha, some 50 miles in circumference, reposes in 

 a setting of mountains. The acacia-plains reach in some places 

 right down to the shores of the lake, which on the eastern side 

 are very flat and the water very shallow. 



In the grass-country around the shores of the lake, where 

 the acacias grew wide apart, quite a number of new birds were 

 met with. One of the commonest among Accipitres was Buteo 

 augur, which was found, as a rule, where there were small 

 wooded groves. Spreo superbus was very common here too and 

 Oriolus larvatus rolleil together with Lamprocolius chalyhaeus 

 chalyhaeus and Streptopelia capicola tropica flew about everywhere 

 in the acacias. Among the pigeons occurring here may be men- 

 tioned Stigmatopelia senegalensis aequatorialis. Rather common 

 too were Granatina iafdhinog aster montana, Melittophagtis hul- 

 locJcoides and Bicrurus adsimilis divaricatus. A rare bird in 

 these districts — judging from my observations — was Serimts 

 angolensis reichenoivi and even Jtjnx ruficoUis cocensi occurred 

 rather sparingly. One of the commonest birds here — as in 

 other places — was Macronyx croceus. 



The thickets and bushes, which here and there skirted the 

 swampy shores were frequented by Centropus superciliosus super- 

 ciliosus, Serinus siilphuratus sharpei, Crater opus melanops cla- 

 mosus, Tricholoema diademata massaica, Laniarius aethiopicus 

 major, Fiscus collaris humeralis, Nedarinia Jcilimensis, Cinnyris 

 venustus falkensteini and many others. Only once did I meet 

 Cossypha heuglini. Sometimes I met in these districts Dioptrornis 

 fischeri, Euplectes capensis xanthomelas, Fycnonotus tricolor fayi, 

 Colius striatus ugandensis and others, which are not strictly 

 confined to any special locality — even if they appear in general 

 to prefer now this, now that — but are found a little every- 

 where. In the end of the branches of the small acacias and 

 bushes Othyphanies reicJienowi reichenowi had their nests and 

 Hyphanturgus ocularius suahelicus was observed now and then. 

 Very common too was J^rinia mistacea immutahilis. 



On the open, grass-covered shores flocks of Ibis aethiopica 

 walked about in the company of the extremely common JBu- 

 bulcus ibis, and Eoplopterus speciosus flew in swarms everywhere. 

 Among the stones and knolls on the water's edge ran Erolia 



