432 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



had taken a variety of excellent photos, of marabou, vul- 

 tures, and kites feeding, and, above all, of a monitor lizard 

 plundering the nest of a crocodile. The monitors were 

 quite plentiful near camp. They are amphibious, carniv- 

 orous lizards of large size; they frequent the banks of the 

 river, running well on the land, and sometimes even climb- 

 ing trees, but taking to the water when alarmed. They 

 feed on mice and rats, other lizards, eggs, and fish; the 

 stomachs of those we caught generally contained fish, for 

 they are expert swimmers. One morning Loring sur- 

 prised a monitor which had just uncovered some crocodile 

 eggs on a small sandy beach. The eggs, about thirty in 

 number, were buried in rather shallow fashion, so that the 

 monitor readily uncovered them. The monitor had one 

 of the eggs transversely in its mouth, and, head erect, was 

 marching off with it. As soon as it saw Loring it dropped 

 the egg and scuttled into the reeds; in a few minutes it 

 returned, took another egg, and walked off into the bushes, 

 where it broke the shell, swallowed the yolk, and at once 

 returned to the nest for another egg. Loring took me out 

 to see the feat repeated, replenishing the rifled nest with 

 eggs taken from a crocodile the Doctor had shot; and I 

 was delighted to watch, from our hiding place, the big lizard 

 as he cautiously approached, seized an egg, and then re- 

 tired to cover with his booty. Kermit came on a monitor 

 plundering a crocodile's nest at the top of a steep bank, 

 while, funnily enough, a large crocodile lay asleep at the 

 foot of the bank only a few yards distant. As soon as it 

 saw Kermit the monitor dropped the egg it was carrying, 

 ran up a slanting tree which overhung the river, and 

 dropped into the water like a snake bird. 



