NESTING HABITS OP E. AFRICAN BIRDS 45 
(altitude about 7200 feet). Owing to the fact that there was 
always present just one pair of these birds I imagined 
that they would probably nest in this locality. The centre 
of the glade is traversed by a dense reed- and rush-fringed 
stream, but, although this seemed to be the most likely spot 
for a nest, one was found eventually quite half a mile from 
the stream on ground which had been rendered boggy by the 
heavy rains of this year (1912). 
I was snipe-shooting on this boggy flat on September 16 
and had just got to a part where the herbage had become 
particularly coarse and dense, the grass being largely inter- 
mixed with reeds and sedges growing to a height of about 
two feet, when a crane got up about twenty yards from me, 
and, as I had for a long time wished to obtain a specimen of 
this species, I without thinking fired at and killed the bird. 
A moment after, my companion, who was some distance on 
my flank, came on a nest which I at once realised belonged to 
the cranes. It contained three eggs of a dirty chalky white 
colour and which, when blown, showed blue-green inside when 
held to the light. I had no means of making accurate 
measurements and the eggs are now in England, but they 
closely resembled the eggs of the common English cormorant 
both in size and texture. The nest was composed of dead 
sedges and grass and measured thirty inches in diameter, the 
slight basin formed by the sitting bird being twelve inches 
in diameter. The nest was raised only some two or three 
inches above the ground, and was in the centre of a little 
opening in the dense surrounding vegetation. Two of the 
eggs proved to be fresh— probably unfertile, the third was 
very much incubated. 
The bird on dissection proved to be the female, and I am 
glad to say that two days later the surviving cock bird had 
found another mate. 
The Augur Buzzard (Buteo augur) 
This beautiful buzzard is one of the common sights of 
British East Africa. Conspicuous for their large size, dark 
