ON THE STONY ATHI 235 



grass on an opposite bluff, made a sudden spring forward. 

 There ensued much fuss and action, the great wings 

 being spread out downwards (as a sparrow-hawk covers 

 over its prey), while some furious stamps of its foot 

 were administered ere the reptile was finally pouched. 

 Also, on the day when I finally secured my first wilde- 

 beest bull, after following the blood- spoor for hours — 

 almost to the Kikuyu forest — I chanced, in a lonely 

 group of thorn-trees, on a huge flat stick-built nest. It 

 contained small bones, skulls, and the vertebrae of 

 serpents, others lying strewn beneath. This I thought 

 would belong to some eagle or vulture ; but Ali asserted 

 it was a secretary's nest, and was probably correct, as I 

 now read that these singular birds do breed so, in trees. 



One must not leave the Athi w^ithout mentioning 

 the ticks. They were not so bad in September, but in 

 January they are a terror, attacking all the softest parts 

 of one's body, and burrowing into the flesh, till one 

 resembles a "target." Every day one's tent-boy must 

 remove them. A much larger variety attacks animals, 

 and my poor pony "Goldfinch" suff"ered severely. 

 These blood-suckers when removed in the morning were 

 of the size of hazel-nuts. They, in manifold varieties, 

 also infest the game, and it has been loosely stated that 

 until the ticks (and the game) are utterly cleared out, 

 no cattle can thrive here. That, how^ever, needs proof. 

 Nature has arrayed more formidable opponents than the 

 tick to man's conquest of the wilds. A first difliculty 

 will be the w^aut of water. Throughout the 150 miles 

 of the Athi Plains, there run but these two rivers — and 

 they largely dry at certain seasons. But the wrack and 

 drifted rubbish lodged high up in the branches of river- 

 side trees, evidence heavy floods at times. It remains to 

 be seen if that flood-water can be conserved and utilised. 



A minor nuisance to the hunter is the wait-a-bit 

 thorn. At this season (January) it assumes a soft 

 velvety-green foliage almost inviting to the touch ; but 

 woe to the hand that grasps it. An even worse man- 

 trap are its dead thin shoots, hardly distinguishable 



