A SPORTSMAN AND NATURALIST. 387 



mained at the Attenborough farm to look after the hippopotamus 

 trophies. 



Kermit Roosevelt had come into the township the day before, 

 and the correspondent went out to meet Colonel Roosevelt at lunch 

 at the Government experimental farm on the Morendat River, 

 where he was entertained by an admiring friend. After the meal 

 the party rode over the farm inspecting the flocks of sheep and the 

 pedigreed stock. The results of crossing the Merino pure-bred 

 rams with the native ewes was marvelous. The amount of wool 

 on the cross-breds was most surprising, for the native ewes have 

 none. Colonel Roosevelt was very much interested in the w^ork. 



THE RETURN TO NAIVASHA. 



Colonel Roosevelt and Kermit returned later to Naivasha and 

 found that R. J. Cunninghame, general manager of the expedition, 

 with all the porters and the baggage had only just arrived. The 

 men were busy pitching the tents near the water's edge. 



Early next morning the correspondent went down to the camp 

 and had breakfast with Colonel Roosevelt and Kermit and then 

 started off in a small rowboat for pelicans. 



They had not gone far when the Colonel brought down a couple 

 of Egyptian geese with a very pretty shot. The boat was then 

 turned for the usual hunting grounds of the pelicans and brought, 

 with the least possible noise, to within 150 feet of two fine speci- 

 mens. Colonel Roosevelt took careful aim and killed a splendid 

 bird with a single shot from his rifle. The specimen delighted the 

 Colonel beyond measure. Colonel Roosevelt and Kermit after- 

 wards indulged in shooting gulls, which have long red beaks and 

 legs and feathers of beautiful slate blue. In all they bagged five 

 fine specimens and also secured a complete nest with three eggs. 



Meanwhile Major Mearns and J. Alden Loring had been busy 

 and had secured some fine specimens of the bird inhabitants of the 

 lake. 



The tiny towai of Naivasha, which boasts a six-roomed hotel, a 

 white store, four Indian stores, a postofflce, a railway station and 

 perhaps twenty houses scattered in groups of four or five, with 



