214 ON SAFARI 



down together among the wiry grass. I was dis- 

 appointed in not meeting with coursers — birds I have 

 never seen, and of which several species exist here. 

 Larks were a consjDicuous genus, and one small group 

 quite new to me — the bush-larks [Mirafra), small and 

 thick-set, with short rounded wings. On February 4 

 I found a nest of one of these, a rufous-winged little 

 bird, probably M. athi, containing a newly-hatched 

 chick. It was on bare ground, slightly sheltered by a 

 low rock. The secretary-bird we observed on various 

 occasions; but these, as well as bustards, cranes, etc., 

 have, I think, already been mentioned. 



A fortnight's hard work having failed to produce so 

 much as even the sight of another lion, we decided to 

 try fresh ground. 



East of the Athi rise the mountain-ranges of Lukenia 

 with numerous outlying koppies — most "lionous" spots, 

 with splendid shaded caves, many of these showing 

 ample evidence (in tawny hair, etc.) of quite recent 

 occupation. Lions lie up by day, not in the cold re- 

 cesses of these caverns, but quite openly beneath over- 

 hanging shelves of rock outside them. Where these 

 " beds" were exposed to the full rays of the afternoon 

 sun, a second lair would always be found a few yards 

 away — round some projecting angle that afforded shelter 

 from meridian heat. There were rarely any bones about 

 these dens — save indeed those of mice, relics of owls 

 and kestrels that also frequent the rocks. In one lion- 

 cave grew a wild fig-tree. 



We worked all these koppies for miles along the 

 Lukenia Range, sometimes stalking particular lairs the 

 positions of which were known, at others "driving" 

 some great tumbled pile of rocks, or trying by grass-fires 

 to smoke out secretive denizens. We put out jackals 

 and numberless hyrax, but never a lion. Sometimes 

 when one realised that a beast was coming out by the 

 exit where one held guard, it was almost a relief to 

 observe that it tvas " only a jackal " I 



