KENYA (1) 131 
cessful days when we returned home very tired with nothing in 
the bag. | 
No doubt the easiest way of getting such birds would be in the 
rainy season when the lakes are filled and the birds make their 
peculiar mud nests which jut out of the water. Then the young- 
sters could be got with ease. 
The Lesser Flamingo has a curious distribution, being found in 
the soda lakes of East Africa, the salt lakes of western Madagascar, 
and in northwest India. So far as I know, no specimens have yet 
reached England alive. 
Back in the Highlands I was fortunate to trace the sleeping 
quarters of a pair of the rather rare White-headed Wood-hoopoes 
in a small hole in a dead tree. These I captured as they came to 
roost. One could actually smell the hole when near the tree as the 
birds themselves give off a strong musky odor which remains in 
the sleeping chamber. There seems to be no explanation in litera- 
ture as to how these birds, and others such as the Blue-necked 
Bee-eater, the hoatzin, etc., emit this odor. It is doubtful if it is 
due to food as many odorless birds have the same diet as those 
that smell. A probable explanation, as I have already mentioned, 
is that the secretion from the oil-gland is scented in the case of 
certain birds, presumably as a protective agent. 
While I was there I heard a lot about the Nandi Bear. This is 
a mythical beast that has many champions among the local popu- 
lace, in the same way that Scotland has its Loch Ness monster, 
Australia its Bunyip, and Madagascar its Fananimpitoloha. It is 
unfortunate that the Nandi Bear crosses people’s paths only on 
misty days when it is impossible to obtain a perfect view. Those 
who believe in it do so with something of a fanaticism, and it is 
unwise to argue that in a country as settled as Kenya someone 
would have come across at least a piece of skin or some bones by 
now, if it really existed. 
The Highlands plains are the home of a bird that has a very 
restricted range and is not found outside these limits. This is Jack- 
son’s Whydah, the male of which in the breeding season is mainly 
black with a long arched tail. Like the rest of the whydahs, he 
develops a showy plumage for the breeding season, then goes into 
eclipse and looks very much like the female. 
