APPENDIX C 547 



and weeds, the spotted rats were found in great numbers, but no four-striped 

 rats. All the way from Fort Hall to Mount Kenia and as high as 10,700 feet, 

 where Dr. Mearns secured one specimen, this species was common. ' We also 

 caught them along the route between Kampalla and Butiaba. 



Giant Rat (Thrynomys gregorianus). Along the skirtings of the rivers in the thick 

 weeds, grass, and bushes at Fort Hall signs of these animals were common. 

 There were no well-defined paths. Footprints the size and shape of those 

 made by our muskrats (fiber] were found in the mud at the water's edge, and 

 here and there were clusters of grass and weed stems cut in lengths averaging 

 six inches. In sections where the vegetation had been burned were innumer- 

 able holes where some animal had dug about the base of grass tufts. Their 

 signs did not extend further than fifty feet from water. While passing through 

 a thicket close to the water, I started a large rodent which darted through the 

 grass and plunged into the water. 



Mole Rat (Tachyorycles splendens ibeanus). Mounds of earth that these rats had 

 thrown from the mouth of their burrows at the time that the tunnels were made, 

 were found as far west as Oljoro O'Nyon River, but none at N'garri Narok 

 River. At our camp on the South Guaso Nyero River a pale mole-colored 

 mole rat took this animal's place. Some fifteen miles west of Lake Naivasha 

 mole rats became common, and on the sandy flats within five miles of the lake 

 they were so abundant that our horses broke into their runways nearly every 

 step. Their underground tunnels and the mounds of earth that were thrown 

 out were similar to those made by the pocket gophers of western United 

 States. Many were snared by the porters and brought to camp alive. They 

 would crawl about slowly, not attempting to run away, but looking for a hole 

 to enter. After the lapse of a few seconds they would begin to dig. In any 

 slight depression they began work, and when small roots or a tussock of grass 

 intervened, they used their teeth until the obstruction was removed, and then 

 with the nails of their front feet only, conf'nued digging. As the hole deepened 

 they threw the dirt out between their h'- *d legs and with them still further be- 

 yond. After the earth had accumulated so that it drifted back they faced about 

 and using their chest as a scoop, pushed it entirely out of the way. They were 

 most active in the evening, at night, and in early morning. Several were found 

 dead near their holes, having evidently been killed by owls or small carnivorous 

 mammals. 



Alpine Mole Rat (Tachyoryctes rex}. Mole rat mounds were common about the West 

 Kenia Forest Station, but none were seen between 7,500 and 8,500 feet, and 

 from this altitude they ranged to 11,000 feet. They inhabited all of the ojien 

 grassy plots in the bamboo belt and in the open timber. The "boys" snared 

 many in nooses ingeniously placed in the runs that were opened and closed 

 after the trap was set. While digging into the burrows, several times I found 

 bulky nests of dried grass in side pockets just off the main runway. Most of 

 them were empty, but one was filled with the animal's droppings. 



Kapiti Blesmol (Myoscalops kapiti). This mole rat, which proved to be new to 

 science, was first encountered at Potha on Kapiti Plains and it was again met 

 with at Ulukenia Hills. I was shown several skins that were taken about fif- 

 teen miles east of Nairobi. They were the most difficult of all mole rats to catch 

 because they lived in the very sandy soil ami almost invariably covered the 

 trap with sand without themselves getting into it. I found a number of their 

 skulls in the pellets of barn and other species of owls. 



Springhaas (Pedetes surdaster). Very common at Naivasha station where their 

 burrows were numerous on a sandy fiat practically in the town, and many 



