1 82 EASTERN ETHIOPIA xv 



to appropriate a roasted fowl or joint during its transfer 

 from the kitchen to the dining-room. On one occasion 

 whilst I was lunching out of doors near Jeypore, a 

 predaceous kite swooped over the table and flew away 

 with the roasted fowl, the only substantial element 

 in the meal. 



English visitors in eastern lands usually take much 

 interest in kites. Four or five hundred years ago these 

 birds were nearly as common in London as they are 

 to-day in Cairo. One writer of that period (Turner) 

 states that they were so rapacious as to snatch meat 

 from the hands of children in our towns and cities. 

 The toy known as the kite takes its name from these birds. 



There is a Masai proverb which runs, " Do not show 

 the hawk your bow or he will fly away." A beautiful 

 hawk sat on a dead branch high in the tree watching 

 our party proceeding to the lake. We stayed beneath 

 the tree and it was decided to obtain the hawk for a 

 specimen. The instant the gun was handed to me by 

 the gun-bearer the bird flew away. This happened on 

 several occasions and I am sure hawks are as knowing 

 as rooks in regard to guns. 



It is the practice of many settlers on the high grass 

 plateaus around the Kikuyu and the Mau escarpments, 

 as well as in the Rift Valley, to fire the long dry grass. 

 This method destroys young trees as well as ticks ; such 

 grass-fires sometimes get out of hand and destroy out- 

 buildings as well as settlers' houses. On two occasions 

 we were afraid that the fire would involve our camp in 

 destruction. When the coarse dry grass is burnt off 

 just before the rain is due, in a short time young green 

 grass makes its appearance and is visited by zebras, 

 antelopes, arid similar animals. 



As soon as the grass is burnt, the blackened area 

 left by the fire is visited by large birds such as hawks, 

 kites, secretary birds, and bustards : they hunt for little 

 birds, grasshoppers, locusts, and other winged insects 

 which, being singed by the fire, are unable to fiy. 



