ART. 17 EAST AFRICAN VERTEBRATES LOVERIDGE 33 



GALLINULA CHLOROPUS BRACHYPTERA (Brehm) 

 AFRICAN MOOR HEN 



Found 20 nests of the year all vacated by young except two. In 

 one of these was a single addled egg, which I preserved. In the 

 other were five hard-set eggs, which I left. All the nests except 

 this last one were built in tussocks of grass; the last was in the fork 

 of a shrub about 6 inches above the water, which was 4 feet deep; 

 there was no grass within 10 feet of the site. (Nzingi, 26. v. 26.) 



During the second week in May I saw a downy young moor hen 

 swimming in the large pond near the golf links. A slightly larger 

 youngster was brought in between May 12 and 15, but was too injured 

 to keep. Toward the end of the month this was followed by an adult 

 bird which was put in a spacious guinea-fowl run where it huddled in 

 the corner all da}^, never venturing to enter a basin of water that was 

 provided. It evidently fed at night when the guinea fowl roosted, 

 for it survived and was joined by a half-grown, gray-plumaged bird 

 and the two of them transferred to an inclosure occupied by small 

 buck. Here the pair of them fed on rice (? and meat) submerged in 

 milk. When anyone approached they raced up and down inside the 

 wire netting scrambling over the buck with their sharp claws so that 

 I deemed it advisable to remove them to an inside room pending the 

 building of a water-fowl run. In this location they were equally at 

 home, rarely entering the water but scurrying over the grass-strewn 

 floor. The adult bird, finding it could pass through the bars of a 

 large cage containing a pangolin and a jumping hare, took up its abode 

 in the dark recesses of the cage, only issuing forth to feed at night. 

 (Dodoma, vi. 26.) 



Of four adult birds brought in only two survived; possibly they 

 had been injured during capture or exposed to a hot sun. The 

 Wagogo display a total lack of common sense in such matters. 

 (Dodoma, 1. viii. 26.) 



NUMmA MITRATA REICHENOWI Grant 



REICHENOW'S HELMETED GUINEA FOWL 



Purchased two hatchings from native youngsters who had reared 

 them under hens; there were five in one lot and four in the other. 

 They are very fond of grasshoppers but reject a hard-shelled dung 

 beetle (Macropoda tuberculifera Kolbe)^ that is locally common. Dur- 

 ing the three days here — and I have been constantly in the bush — I 

 have only seen two coveys of the birds, both were large ones, how- 

 ever. (Nzmgi, 24-26. v. 26.) 



• My thanks are due to Mr. Archer for this determination. 

 89179—28 5 



