300 A COLONY IN THE MAKING chap. 



a scorching day. After about half an hour, which 

 seemed to fly, so much of bird and animal life was 

 there around to rivet the attention, the first musical 

 cry of the flighting grouse was heard and a couple of 

 birds circled once and then shot like plummets towards 

 the water. As they reached the top of the belt they 

 saw us and swerved, but too late, and three little 

 corpses fell on to the smooth sand. Five minutes 

 later came the first flock, some fifty strong, flying 

 perhaps forty yards up and shooting straight at the 

 high tree tops. As they topped these they broke in 

 every direction like a covey of partridges in November 

 and for my gun, at all events, proved altogether too 

 difficult. In another quarter of an hour there was one 

 continual stream whirling over the trees and circling 

 and calling all round. I feel quite convinced that had 

 we been so desirous we could have killed 500 brace of 

 as difficult and sporting birds as anyone could possibly 

 desire. We soon had all that we wanted for ourselves 

 and porters, but could not refrain from staying and 

 watching the wonderful sight presented. After a time, 

 if we kept quite still, the birds would cease to mind 

 our presence and would settle down in hundreds at the 

 water's edge, where they seemed to take two sips and 

 then make off. I do not think that the time occupied 

 by each flock was more than half a minute. It seemed 

 a poor repast to come, say, twenty miles for ! 



After watching for a couple of hours we went 

 through the belt of trees to cross to our camp, and as 

 we emerged a strange sight greeted us. We thought 

 that the bulk of the birds had finished drinking, but 

 it appeared that it was only the bolder spirits which 

 had not resented our presence. For some hundreds 

 of yards the sandy ground outside the trees was brown 



