390 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



large plantain-eaters; and birds like small jays with yel- 

 low wattles round the eyes. There were boat-tailed birds, 

 in color iridescent green and purple, which looked like our 

 grakles, but were kin to the bulbuls; and another bird, 

 related to the shrikes, with bristly feathers on the rump, 

 which was colored like a red-winged blackbird, black with 

 red shoulders. Vultures were not plentiful, but the yellow- 

 billed kites, true camp scavengers, were common and tame, 

 screaming as they circled overhead, and catching bits of 

 meat which were thrown in the air for them. The shrews 

 and mice which the naturalists trapped around each camp- 

 ing place were kin to the species we had already obtained 

 in East Africa, but in most cases there was a fairly well- 

 marked difference; the jerbilles for instance had shorter 

 tails, more like ordinary rats. Frogs with queer voices 

 abounded in the marshes. Among the ants was one ar- 

 boreal kind which made huge nests, shaped like beehives 

 or rather like big gray bells, in the trees. Near the lake, 

 by the way, there were Goliath beetles, as large as small 

 rats. 



Ten days from Kampalla we crossed the little Kafu 

 River, the black, smooth current twisting quickly along 

 between beds of plumed papyrus. Beyond it we entered 

 the native kingdom of Unyoro. It is part of the British pro- 

 tectorate of Uganda, but is separate from the native king- 

 dom of Uganda, though its people in ethnic type and social 

 development seem much the same. We halted for a day 

 at Hoima, a spread-out little native town, pleasantly situ- 

 ated among hills, and surrounded by plantations of cot- 

 ton, plaintains, yams, millet, and beans. It is the capital 

 of Unyoro, where the king lives, as well as three or four 



