EAST AFRICAN BIRDS, ■ 861 



close behind where I was lying, and, at the sound of the shot, had 

 risen with a cry. The dead bird measured 59 inches from tip 

 of beak to the tip of its longest claw (Dar-es-Salaam, 5.vii. 18). 



Scopus umbretta bannermanki C. Grant. 



East African Hammer-head. At Dar-es-Salaam I found a nest 

 from which the young had just flown, according to the natives 

 living about 30 feet away. They said that the bird had bred 

 there for many years ; its nest, in the fork of a tree, was scai"cely 

 10 feet from the ground and easil}' accessible. I was surprised 

 that the thrifty natives had not pulled down the load of sticks 

 for firewood (8.ii. 19). 



OicoNiA CICONIA Linn. 



The White Stork was only met with once and then in thousands. 

 It was at Morogoro (19. ii. 18), when about 4 p.m. my attention 

 was drawn to a great flock of birds high in the air ; others wei-e 

 coming round the western spur of the Uluguru Mtns. from a 

 S.W. direction. It was a most wonderful sight, and reminded 

 one of the Gannets flying about the Bass Rock, with this 

 difference : that in lieu of the limitless sea for a background, one 

 had the forest-clad slopes of the Uluguru .reaching up into the 

 clouds. And over the top and down the slopes, or circling mid 

 the clouds, still the birds came, the specks grew larger and 

 larger, then showed white and black until finally they were 

 recognisable as storks. 



Thousands upon thousands came sailing through the air 

 without visible effort. B}^ scores they settled in the trees, stiff and 

 erect, their white plumage against the forest foliage forming a 

 not easily forgotten picture. It was very evident what had 

 brought them, for they pursued the locusts (which had appeared 

 the da,y before) on the wing, swallowing them in wholesale 

 fashion. In flight they carried their i-ed legs straight out behind, 

 but when intending to alight, they were allowed to hang down 

 and swing freely to and fro like a parachute coming to earth. 

 There is a cui-ious mechanism of the knee-joints, necessitating 

 the leg being out straight or bent at right angles ; in either 

 position it locks. After death, if the leg was placed in any other 

 position, it flew to one or the other of these of its own accord. 



Millions upon millions of the locusts continued steadily driving 

 past like rain ; the air was vibrant with the noise of their flight 

 and with the steady pinion-beats of the pursuing storks. Others 

 of the insects settled on the vegetation, which was a-rustle with 

 them as they hopped, or took short flights, out of one's way. The 

 measurement of the outstretched wings of one of the storks was 

 6 feet 3 inches. 



Abdimia abdimii Licht. 



The following morning the storks were still about, and circled 

 over the hospital, where they were made targets of by a number 



