ONE AFRICAN DAY 201 



down and takes a siesta at midday under a spreading 

 thorn-tree, and one day on the Lemik I passed 

 one within forty yards without its moving or 

 showing any alarm. Lovat's Bustard (Otis lovati) 

 was not uncommon on the high parts of the Mau, 

 where I shot four one morning, as well as a species 

 closely allied to the Vaal-Khorhan of South Africa. 

 Another common bird of the Sotik forest country 

 is the Olive or Spotted Wood-pigeon (Columba 

 arquatrix), which often comes in great numbers 

 to drink at some favourite pool at dawn or sunset. 

 But it was by the river that we saw most of the 

 birds, or in the woods and " opens " adjoining water. 

 Here there are always numbers of spur-winged, 

 RuppelPs or Crowned Plover, the latter a bird of 

 the dry country and a noisy, obsequious fellow. 



Herons are everywhere abundant along the river 

 itself, and I noticed the great Goliath Heron (Ardea 

 goliath) twice, whilst Purple, Black-headed, Buff- 

 backed, Squacco and Night Herons were abundant. 



Various kinds of Storks, too, are very numerous, 

 including the beautiful great Jabiru and the ugly 

 Marabou, as great a scavenger as the vulture 

 himself, and the master of the feast after the lions 

 and hyaenas have gone. One day I saw what I 

 believed to be a new species of Stork, grey in colour, 

 and with a large bill like a Jabiru. 



At another time I noticed a big migration of 

 the Common Stork (ciconia alba), which came in 

 hundreds over the Mau and settled in the open 

 plain of the Kedong. Perhaps the loveliest birds I 

 saw on the Amala were a pair of the gorgeous Violet 

 Touracos, which came within a few yards of me 

 one morning shortly after dawn, and made a most 



