66 Mr. E. Lort Phillips on Birds 



flat-topped mimosa-trees here take the place of the smaller 

 bushes nearer the coast, while dense thickets of the ever- 

 green arak, or toothbrush-tree, give shelter to Franco- 

 lins. Guinea-fowls, and Lesser Bustards, as well as to many 

 smaller birds, which seek seclusion in their dark recesses. It 

 has been a matter of regret to us all that we only spent one 

 day at Gelloker. Butterflies and birds were particularly 

 abundant, and there were many tracks of antelopes. How- 

 ever, as water was very scarce, we decided to push on to 

 Hammar, at the foot of the Sheik Pass, which we reached 

 the next evening. Haramar is a really beautiful spot, but 

 it is hardly a desirable camping-ground, having been used 

 from time immemorial as a resting-place for caravans about 

 to ascend the Pass. On a slight eminence in the rocky 

 gorge stand three ancient tamarind-trees, the very soil 

 beneath them consisting of the remains of countless camp- 

 fires. Mountains rise abruptly on all sides, well clothed 

 with timber, among which the giant, candelabra-like Eu- 

 phorbia is most conspicuous. A tiny stream trickles down 

 the gorge, forming pools at intervals, over which lovely 

 butterflies hover for a moment and then sail away above the 

 highest tree-tops, to the disgust of their would-be capturers. 

 From crevices in the rocks hang clusters of the beautiful 

 broad-leaved maidenhair fern. Near one of these pools I 

 had an adventure, which might have had an ugly ter- 

 mination. I was waiting with a butterfly-net for the 

 return of one of the aforesaid errant beauties, when I saw 

 a snake gliding down over the smooth rock towards the 

 water. To run forward and scoop him into the net was the 

 work of a moment, and I congratulated myself on having 

 obtained an unharmed specimen so easily. He struggled 

 violently for a few minutes, but when he had quieted down I 

 brought the net nearer my face to examine him, when 

 suddenly I felt a slight spray upon my cheek and a sharp 

 pain in my right eye. T flung down the net and went and 

 bathed my face in the pool, then recaught my captive, which 

 had escaped, and hurried home to camp, where I dropped 

 him safely into spirit. The pain in my eye now became much 



