16 THE EASTERN PROVINCE 



tradition goes, Lake Hannington has always been there within the 

 memory of man — say for several hundred years. It is called by the 

 Masai " Mbatibat," and by the Kamasia " Makwaria." 



On Lake Hannington it is no exaggeration to say that there must be 

 close upon a million flamingoes. These birds are mainly collected round 

 the northern end of the lake and on the submerged banks which break up 

 the deep blue-green of its still surface. The shores where they cluster, 

 and these banks in the middle of the lake where they are above the 

 water's edge, are dazzling white with the birds' guano. These flamingoes 

 breed on a flat plain of mud about a mile broad at the north end of Lake 

 Hannington, where their nests, in the form of little mounds of mud with 

 feathers plastered on the hollowed top, appear like innumerable molehills. 

 The birds, having hitherto been absolutel}^ unmolested by man, are quite 

 tame. They belong to a rosy species {Pheniconais ininor), which is slightly 

 smaller than the ^Mediterranean flamingo, but exquisitely beautiful in 

 plumage. The adult bird has a body and ueck of rosy pink, the colour of 

 sunset clouds. The beak is scarlet and purple ; the legs are deep rose- 

 pink inclining to scarlet. Lhiderneath the black-pinioned wings the larger 

 feathers are scarlet-crimson, while beautiful crimson crescents tip the 

 tertiaries and wing-coverts ou the upper surface of the wings. Apparently 

 the mature plumage is not reached until the birds are about three years 

 old. The younger flamingoes very soon attain the same size as the rosy 

 adults, but their plumage when they are full grown is first grey-white 

 and then the colour of a pale tea-rose before it attains its full sunset 

 glorv. On the north coast of the lake the belt of flamingoes must be 

 nearly a mile broad from the edge of the lake outwards. Seen 

 from above, this mass of birds on its shoreward side is grey-white, 

 then becomes white in the middle, and has a lakeward ring of the 

 most exquisite rose-pink, the reason being that the birds on the outer 

 edge of the semi-circle are the young ones, while those farthest out 

 into the lake are the oldest. It is not easy to make the birds take 

 to flight. When they do so suddenly and the shallow water is stirred, 

 the stench which arises is sickening. The noise of these birds can be 

 heard from nearly a mile distant. The kronk-krouk-kronk of the million, 

 mingled with liissings and squitterings and splashings and the swish- 

 swish-swish of those who are starting on flight, combine to make a 

 tumult of sound in the presence of which one has to shout to one's 

 companions in order to be heard. It is curious to watch the ungainly 

 motions of these birds when they wish to rise in the air. Their flight 

 has to be preceded by an absurd gallop through the mud before they 

 can lift themselves on their wings. 



Kound about the end of Lake Baringo one enters a flat country, which 



