﻿2 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 59 



MR. PAUL J. RAINEY'S EAST AFRICAN HUNTING-TRIP 



Mr. Rainey planned a hunting-trip of several months' duration, 

 the principal object of which was to test the possibility of hunting 

 lions with American bear-hounds. He offered to present to the Insti- 

 tution the natural-history material obtained while he was in the field, 

 provided some person skilled in the preservation of specimens for 

 scientific purposes could be sent with him. The choice fell on Mr. 

 Edmund Heller, who, on account of his extensive experience as one 

 of the field naturalists of the Smithsonian African Expedition, was 

 well fitted to take charge of any zoological collections that might 

 be made. 



The expedition left New York February 18, 191 1, and Mr. Heller 

 turned homeward from Nairobi, British East Africa, about February 

 15, 19 12, so that almost exactly a year was spent in the enterprise. 

 The route of travel was somewhat to the north and east of that taken 

 by the earlier Smithsonian Expedition, and passed through the 

 country lying between the northern part of British East Africa and 

 southern Abyssinia. 



Arrived at Mombasa, the expedition took its way toward the north, 

 across the Gabba Plains district, along the east side of the Horerti and 

 Koroli deserts, by the Lorain swamp, and thence along the west side 

 of the desert to Nairobi. 



The coast stations of the Uganda railroad were then visited by Mr. 

 Heller, and afterwards various localities about Lake Victoria Nyanza. 



The Institution received on September 9, 191 1, the first consignment 

 of specimens, consisting- of some 300 skins of large mammals, 400 

 skins of small mammals, and a variety of other zoological material. 

 Mr. Heller estimated that the collection as a whole would compare 

 favorably in size with that made by the Smithsonian African Expedi- 

 tion, and that it comprised about 700 skins of large mammals, 4,000 

 skins of small mammals, together with a large number of birds and 

 reptiles. Most of the material is from regions not covered by the 

 earlier expedition, and some of it is from remote localities never 

 before visited by naturalists. 



In the first lot of birds received, was found a new species which 

 has been described by Dr. E. A. Mearns, under the name of Rainey's 

 Wedge-tailed Sunbird. Other novelties will doubtless be found when 

 the whole collection of birds and mammals has been studied. 



