was Put out to Nurse 
eaters were sitting on palm-trees and 
cork-trees, their brilliant plumage shin- 
ing in the sunshine with the loveliest 
colours, blue and green and bright yellow; 
and rollers, almost as brightly coloured, 
flew past them. Shrikes with bright red 
heads, and others all grey and _ black, 
perched on the bushes, ready to pounce 
unawares on beetle or grub. Snakes 
and lizards rustled in the dry herbage, or 
stretched themselves out to bask on the 
sand or on the hard rocks in the sun; 
while overhead soared hundreds of 
hawks, kites, and eagles, ready to swoop 
down on the basking snakes, or on any 
bird oranimal they could catch. Thelakes, 
which were so vast as to stretch to the 
horizon, looked all pinky white, from the 
thousands of flamingoes which stood in 
long lines, each bird supported by two 
219 
