NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 
117 
in a row and well within an area of 25 feet by 5. Seven birds 
were in a space not more than a yard square, and all were within 
a hundred yards of where I stood. Hundreds of ant-lions 
were fluttering and settling in the grass. 
April 17, 1915. — After a pouring wet day, I took a stroll 
over the sodden ground opposite my house ; most of it was 
under half an inch of water. On the outskirts of the forest 
were numbers of delicate white irises that look exactly like 
narcissus and smell like narcissus, which I thought they were 
till put right by one of the Agriculture Department folk. 
Nearly trod on a Gunther’s garter snake (Elapechis Guentheri) 
which was sluggishly winding its way through the sparse 
herbage ; I easily bagged it. This snake belongs to the same 
sub-family as the cobras, and is very handsome. The general 
colour is a plumbeous grey, but this is broken up into half- 
inch bands by white bands, each of which has a red centre ; 
the effect is very like that of the better-known coral snakes of 
America. There were twenty of these bands on the specimen, 
and they are not rings, as they do not extend to the lower 
surface. Caught a Chameleon Jacksoni on a coffee-tree in the 
garden. I hung a leafless twiggy branch on to the electric 
light cord in my bedroom and put it on it ; the creature, how- 
ever, climbed on up the cord and carried the branch up with it, 
having taken a firm grip of it with its prehensile tail. They 
must be pretty strong in caudal muscles, one would think. 
April 24, 1915. — Went up to the Provincial Commissioner’s 
at 5.45, and caught two oleander hawk moths ( Chcerocampa 
nerii), two striped hawks ( C . celerio), and twenty-nine con- 
volvulus hawks ( Sphinx convolvuli). It is interesting to note 
that these species are common to England as well as Africa, 
but the English entomologist who made such a catch in one 
night would become delirious. I must have seen at least a 
hundred of the convolvulus hawks. Saw a Jackson’s chame- 
leon when riding in this morning ; it was standing on the top 
of a fence waving its arms about, so I pulled up and rescued 
it, and rode into Nairobi with it on my helmet. 
May 1 , 1915. — Went out on the plains and walked along 
by the river. A month ago this was dried up with the exception 
of a few pools ; now a little torrent fills the river bed, the grass 
