TO LAKE NAIVASHA 211 



graceful, with its pale flowering crown; and they are typ- 

 ical of the tropics, and their mere sight suggests a vertical 

 sun and hot, steaming swamps, where great marsh beasts 

 feed and wallow and bellow, amidst a teeming reptilian life. 

 A fringe of papyrus here and there adds much to the beauty 

 of a lake, and also to the beauty of the river pools, where 

 clumps of them grow under the shade of the vine-tangled 

 tropical trees. 



The open waters of the lagoons were covered with water- 

 lilies, bearing purple or sometimes pink flowers. Across the 

 broad lily pads ran the curious "lily trotters," or jacanas, 

 richly colored birds, with toes so long and slender that the 

 lily pads support them without sinking. They were not 

 shy, and their varied coloring a bright chestnut being 

 the most conspicuous hue and singular habits made them 

 very conspicuous. There was a wealth of bird life in the 

 lagoons. Small gulls, somewhat like our black-headed 

 gull, but with their hoods gray, flew screaming around us. 

 Black and white kingfishers, tiny red-billed kingfishers, with 

 colors so brilliant that they flashed like jewels in the sun, and 

 brilliant green bee-eaters with chestnut breasts perched 

 among the reeds. Spur-winged plover clamored as they 

 circled overhead near the edges of the water. Little rails and 

 red-legged water hens threaded the edges of the papyrus, 

 and grebes dived in the open water. A giant heron, the Go- 

 liath, flew up at our approach; and there were many smaller 

 herons and egrets, white or parti-colored. There were small, 

 dark cormorants, and larger ones with white throats; and 

 African ruddy ducks, and teal and big yellow-billed ducks, 

 somewhat like mallards. Among the many kinds of ducks 

 was one which made a whistling noise with its wings as 



