1 84 EASTERN ETHIOPIA xv 



again. Bee-eaters are easy birds to watch, for they are 

 not shy, and allow a close approach. Their colours are 

 best displayed when the bird is on the wing. The 

 Nubian Bee-eater is famous for its crimson plumage. 

 When flying in the sun it is a brilliant object, but after 

 death the colour rapidly fades. No one can realise the 

 splendour of this bird from a prepared skin. Bee-eaters 

 are very common in Ethiopia, and are often seen in 

 flocks. 



The ground between our camp and the narrow belt of 

 green grass, reeds, and thorn trees fringing the lake was 

 covered with tall dry grass in many places four feet 

 high. When grass is tall and grows uniformly over the 

 ground, walking through it is tiresome. Often it grows 

 in small tussocks, and appears to form rows much like 

 wheat when sown with a drill ; in this case the 

 mules find their way easily through it. The ground 

 was soft, sandy, and full of holes, some of them very 

 big. The large holes were excavated by wart-hogs, and 

 by an animal odd in shape, grotesque in appearance, 

 with a name to match, Orycteropus. This funny 

 animal digs holes in the sand with its feet, as its 

 Greek name implies. The settlers call it the antbear. 

 The Dutch settlers in Cape Colony many years ago 

 named it aard-vark, or earth-pig, but it belongs to 

 the same group as the ant-eaters. This animal feeds 

 on ants ; it is harmless, timid, nocturnal in habits, 

 and its teeth have sorely puzzled anatomists on 

 account of their peculiar shape. The hole made by the 

 aard-vark is too small to accommodate the wart-hog, 

 and in order to save himself trouble the hog appro- 

 priates a hole already excavated by his neighbour, 

 and enlarges it to suit himself. The wart-hog is a lazy 

 fellow, and only digs a hole just big enough to lodge 

 his body ; as he cannot turn round in the hole, he must 

 enter it tail first. A large number of the holes are 

 unoccupied, for wart-hogs often change their residence. 

 It is easy to know which holes are " to let," for as soon 



