238 THE ODYSSEY OF AN ANIMAL COLLECTOR 
bellied Sunbirds that frequent the sub-desert region of northern 
Kenya and spread through the rather narrow corridor of dry 
scrub which runs southward to the east of Mount Kilimanjaro, 
then fanning out into the dry central region of Tanganyika. 
I was mainly interested in capturing some Purple Grenadier 
Waxbills, undoubtedly the prettiest and most elegant of the wax- 
bill family, and one of the few in which the sexes differ in 
plumage—the male having the head cinnamon brown, the rest 
of the upper parts dark brown, and the under parts purplish- 
blue, while the female has the under parts cinnamon spotted with 
white. They are skulking birds and have very similar habits to 
Peters’ Spotted Waxbills, feeding largely under or near bushes in 
scrub country. I found them sparsely distributed and mine were 
captured with difficulty after baiting places with millet in suitable 
situations. 
The bird-collecting proceeded smoothly but we found it difficult 
to get stores without some sort of conveyance, so I inquired about 
the possibility of hiring a car. Eventually I heard of one that had 
been more or less abandoned at a mission station some miles 
away. The terms of hire were agreed upon, but it was doubtful if 
the ancient and dust-covered relic would ever proceed under its 
own steam. The first thing was to get it out of its shed and give it 
a spring cleaning and a general overhaul. This was not as easy as 
it seemed, for as soon as the boys, delegated to help me, started to 
move the vehicle, out flew a swarm of angry hornets which scat- 
tered everybody in all directions. 
It took a couple of days to clean the old bus, mend tires, and 
get the engine to function, by which time I wondered whether it 
was all worth while, for I foresaw a lot of trouble once we took 
the road. The fuel suction system may have functioned in its 
youth, but it was now suffering from senile decay and had to be 
abandoned in favor of a gravity tank. One mudguard was missing, 
which was one of the best features of the car, for the other was so 
loose that it made a shocking clatter when we finally set off on 
a typical colonial earth road. 
Our first outing was to Kilimatinde—a small town to the south 
of the line with a mission station—to replenish stores. 
