AET. 17 EAST AFRICAN VERTEBRATES LOVERIDGE 29 



too near they would run a yard or so to get impetus and then the 

 whole flock would take off and fly a couple of hundred yards before 

 settling again. 



Palm trees in the distance were white with wood ibis, another spe- 

 cies of which there were also many thousands; smaller flocks of sacred 

 and glossy ibis, openbill, and spoonbill were also put up. During 

 eight years in East Africa I have only seen half a dozen giant heron* 

 but here in the course of an hour I saw a dozen, several of them ris- 

 ing with catfish (?) in their beaks. Gray heron, black-headed heron, 

 squacco heron, great white, and other species of egret were abundant, 

 while one saw not a few saddle-billed storks with wing spread of 8 

 feet — a bird one is accustomed to consider a rarity. Gulls and grebes 

 were also present, but like the geese and ducks were not as plentiful 

 as the pelicans and ibises. I recognized spurwing and Egyptain geese, 

 knob-bill, redbill, and fulvous whistling duck. Fish eagles and other 

 large birds of prey were represented. 



For four and a half hours I sought for nesting sites but though old 

 nests were found, those of this year I could not locate. The expla- 

 nation given by the natives was that the provincial commissioner had 

 given orders for all nests to be destroyed, as the presence of the birds 

 was considered to interfere with the local industry in dried catfish. 

 In consequence of this treatment the birds were now nesting farther 

 back in the v/ilderness of swamps in places unknown to the Bahi 

 natives. 



CHLIDONIAS LECOPAREIA sclateri Mathews and Iredale 

 TERN 



A male was shot and preserved in spirit. Several which were seen 

 flying over the swampy "fields" or flooded areas looked very out of 

 place among the green grass. To judge by their behavior one pair 

 almost certainly had their nest among the grass tussocks standing out 

 of the water. (Nzingi, 25. v. 26.) 



STRUTHIO CAMELUS MASSAICUS Neumann 



EAST AFRICAN OSTRICH 



A native brought in a well-grown but immature ostrich, a species 

 of which I saw a large drove near the Bahi swamps just mentioned. 



This bird was taken out to graze and feed every day and returned 

 to its inclosure during luncheon hours. One day some one inadvert- 

 ently left two crowned cranes in this "boma" and on my going out 

 to see how the ostrich fared I found it standing with one foot on a 

 crane which it was eating alive. As I paused in astonishment it tore 

 off another piece of flesh and gulped it down, its bill dripping blood. 

 The sight brought to mind pictures of dinosaurs of old feeding on 

 their victims. (Dodoma, v. 26.) 



