160 
A NATUEAL HISTORY EXPEDITION 
sure if I am correct in calling these growths ‘ fruits,’ as they 
always appear to be hollow round balls about the size of an 
English horse chestnut. 1 
We came across lion’s spoor and several remains of kills ; 
also disturbed a jackal, which loped leisurely away. For the 
first time I saw eland ( Taurotragus Oryx Livingstonei) in a wild 
state. This is the biggest of all the antelopes, and interest- 
ing experiments in domestication are being conducted at the 
Government Farm, Kabete. Zebra were abundant. Walking 
through a heathery-like vegetation nearly up to one’s knees, 
I disturbed a francolin, and a moment later Mr. Bush started 
a cheetah (Cyncelurus jubatus guttatus) at a few yards’ distance ; 
it went bounding away, and was lost to sight amongst the 
rocks at the entrance of the gorge. 
The cliffs forming the sides of the gorge were some two 
hundred feet high, and at its entrance the width must have 
been nearly half a mile. Camp was pitched under the shadow 
of the cliffs on the right at 12 a.m., and we were glad to escape 
from the fierce heat of the noonday sun. Swifts, swallows, 
and martins of several species had their nests here, the swifts 
in crevices, whilst the swallows and martins had plastered 
theirs to the cliff-face, sometimes in clumps of twenty or more. 
I also watched a pair of sprees (rock starlings) coming and 
going from a nest hole. We could hear the cries of young from 
many of the nests, which was a bad omen for the success of 
our expedition. 
Later in the afternoon we went for a stroll, and collected 
a wheatear (Saxicola 'pleschcmka), a spree (Sjpreo sp.), and a 
sunbird ( Cinnyris sp.), all new to the Museum collection. A 
pair of secretary birds ( Serpentarius secretarius ) were stalking 
about the plain in the middle of the gorge, but were far too 
wary to allow anyone to come within range. As the shades of 
evening drew in, thousands upon thousands of swifts shot 
screaming through the air, parties of five or six would dive 
past your head and startle you with the sound of the air 
whistling through their feathers. It was whilst busily engaged 
1 These hollow balls are the swollen bases (galls) of the young thorns of 
Acacia fistulosa , and are occupied by ants after their abandonment by the 
gall-fly. 
