512 The last Journal of W. A. Forbes. 



Sept. 6tli. Went out with Abiga in morning down river 

 after " deer ; ^' but though we found lots of spoor, both of them 

 and of bufFalOj only saw one and did not get a shot. Saw some 

 green- and yellow-backed Pceocephali. Abiga gave me the 

 horns of a " deer " he had shot the day before close to town, 

 described as rather small and red and white, apparently Tra- 

 gelaphus scriptus. Got six of the common smaller green- 

 striped-headed lizard from a boy ; and a woman brought a 

 large, but mutilated, Clarias-like Siluroid, with free maxilla ? 

 About 4.30 the ' Formoso ' arrived, bringing Mr. Sargent 

 and a newspaper of July 29th. Ashbury very low, deter- 

 mined to leave per ' Formoso ' for Egga ; Greenshields and 

 self stopping here. Man brought a young Rail of uniform 

 sooty black, with bright yellow-green beak, red legs, crimson 

 eyes and orbits (? Limnocorax niger) . 



Sept. 7th. Out all day from 8.30 to 5.30 in the bush with 

 Abiga down as far as opposite Igbebe, but got nothing, 

 though I had two shots at an antelope, apparently a red- 

 dish gazelle, with black patches on the feet. Saw Hali- 

 aetus vocifer and lots of spoor of buffalo, antelope, and leo- 

 pard quite fresh. The country is an undulating or nearly 

 level grassy plain, with small isolated trees, with thicker 

 bush only along the streams. In many places fine cairns of 

 big boulders of granite or gneiss, the former with very large 

 crystals of felspar and a good deal of hornblende. Many of 

 the rocks obviously waterworn, and the whole valley clearly 

 old valley of river. 



Sept. 8th. Out for a couple of hours, 8 to 10, in morning 

 with gun. Got an Anthus in too bad plumage (moulting) to 

 skin (? Anthus gouldi), a female Urobrachya macroura, and a 

 male Hyphantornis (? atrogularls) with nearly white eyes. 

 Saw a fine adult Helotarsns flying high overhead, the white 

 under wing-surfaces very conspicuous, and the legs appa- 

 rently behind, short tail. At Abiga's house saw several 

 antelope-skins, two dodoka ^. Hippotragus equinus), mana 

 {? Adenota), kanki [Alcelaphus) , and mazo [Tragelaphus 

 scriptus), of which latter he had given me the horns. Got a 

 pair of horns of Bos brachyceros, and of what he said was a 



