7 o6 MR. G. H. GURNEY ON NATURAL HISTORY 
Great big black Hornbills ( Bucorax abyssinicus) used also to 
come quite close to our camp ; at a little distance they look 
like large Turkeys with their curious red whattles ; in the trees 
by the river were birds of all descriptions, gorgeous Bee-eaters, 
Fly-catchers, azure Kingfishers, lovely little Doves of different 
sorts, innumerable Shrikes, noisy Bulbuls, Bush Thrushes, 
and innumerable others, while on the river the most inter- 
esting species was the African Darter ( Plotus laivallanti), 
which is perhaps nearer to our Cormorant than anything else, 
it has a long thin neck and head and sharp beak and when 
swimming sinks its back so low that only the thin head and 
neck are to be seen above the water, consequently the natives 
call it the “ Anhinga ” or Snake Bird. 
We stopped four days in this place, shooting and collecting 
all the time, and on January 30th moved on to a camp some 
twenty miles further east and pitched our tents under a grove 
of enormous Acacia trees ; in one of these trees there was a 
large colony of Fruit Bats, extraordinary creatures as big as 
kittens, with a tuft of white fur sticking out each side of their 
heads like cotton-wool. They hung all day head downwards 
from a branch, and if we went near them would turn their 
faces right round and look at us. The following day we had 
a long march as our next camp was to be on another bend of 
the Athi River some twenty miles away from our previous one. 
and I cannot do better here than quote from my journal the 
account of the day’s sport. 
“ Soon after leaving camp we had some difficulty in getting 
the donkeys, laden with baggage, across a small stream 
through dense masses of Papyrus and Giant Bulrushes 
twelve feet high, and many of the loads came off in the water, 
cartridges, stores and food all getting very wet. By seven 
o’clock it was fearfully hot and riding through miles of tall 
grass over which one could barely see and which completely 
hid the walking porters was trying work ; crossing a small 
river much overgrown with big trees and fibres we came upon 
a large troop of Monkeys of all sizes, which rushed screaming 
away and I was not able to shoot one ; about ten minutes 
later we suddenly saw four Giraffes, apparently two cows 
