THE ATHI EIVER 219 



pierced, within a mile, by the nearest of the frowning 

 lion-ravines ; while close in front dawclled the sluggish 

 Athi, Its banks, elsewhere open, here merged in forest- 

 belts, and a deep pool below the camp was embowered 

 in dense scrub, fringed outside with trees. This weird 

 pool abounded in tropical scenes. Amidst a varied 

 population, it harboured, we found, a monster hippo 

 and numerous crocodiles. The tall acacias outside were 

 festooned with pendent nests of weaver-finches, scores on 

 a branch — like a heav}" crop of jargonelle pears ; inside, 

 also, the bush and palmites overhanging the stagnant 

 water were laden with nests, some almost dipping the 

 surface. These belonged to another species. The 

 pennant- winged nightjar already named above, abounded 

 on the riverside, flicking ujd at one's feet, sometimes 

 three or four too-ether, and all settlino- ao-ain, often on 

 bare sand, within a dozen yards. 



We sj^ent many evenings by that pool in an attempt 

 to secure the hippo — none the less enjoyable in that the 

 main object failed. The bird-life atoned for that. 

 Besides the weavers and an infinity of doves, of king- 

 fishers, azure and j^ied, there also abode here the 

 singular hammer-head [Scopus umhretta), whose huge 

 nest — an accumulation of sticks that would fill a 

 cottage — burdened a waterside fork. Small cormorants 

 (some dark, others buff-breasted), and those extraordinary 

 birds, the darters, with exaggerated snake-like necks, sat 

 perched on protruding snags or dived in opaque green 

 depths. The darters also displayed various hues : yet 

 all belong to but one species, Plotus rufus. These birds 

 possessed a joint breeding-colony a mile or two further 

 u]D the river, their nests being massed on low willows 

 and overhanoiuof bush ; while the tall overarchino- trees 

 above were occupied by a heronry. The latter com- 

 munity included both purple, black-headed and night- 

 herons ; while a big separate single nest belonged, I 

 fancy, to a pair of wood-ibis that were always seen hard 

 by. The buff'-backed herons maintained a separate 

 establishment of their own — among thorn-trees, in a 



