HAUNTS AND HABITS OF THE ELEPHANT 49 
land and a man and his wife had little food. The wife 
cooked this food and first gave it to the children as they sat 
outside, but when the husband saw this he went crying, ‘ Give 
the children,’ ‘ Give the children.’ His wife replied, ‘ Sir, come 
and have your food,’ but he refused, and was turned into a 
bird along with his wife, which birds were thereafter called 
‘ Mpabaana.’ 
The second is of the nature of a proverb, and runs thus : 
‘ Does he who eats something nice finish it all at once ? ’ The 
glossy ibis lives in the swamp, as it is a fisher bird, not because 
he cannot leave his food. 
Its food consists of the various worms and grubs to be 
found in the swamp and by the lake, also small crabs and 
mussels. Small fish possibly form part of its diet, though 
I have never been able to identify their remains during the 
course of several stomach dissections. After probing about 
the swamp it is fond of standing motionless on the top branch 
of a convenient dead tree, where its sheeny plumage and white 
eye at once attract one’s attention. 
It nests by the lake and swamp, choosing usually a position 
low down on the tree for building its large, untidy nest, made 
of dead twigs and unlined. A full clutch apparently contains 
three eggs only, about three inches long, with a rough shell 
coated with curious reddish brown markings which have 
the appearance of stains merely. 
The young are born almost nude and jet black in colour. 
Growth takes place rapidly, and in about a fortnight the young 
leave the nest. 
SOME NOTES ON THE HAUNTS AND HABITS OF THE 
ELEPHANT ON THE GUAS NGISHU PLATEAU 
By A. C. Hoey. 
One of the best districts for game in this Protectorate, 
and more especially for elephant, is that part of the Guas 
Ngishu Plateau situated south-east of Victoria Nyanza, bounded 
on the east by the Elgeyo escarpment, on the north by the 
Turkwell River, and west by Mount Elgon. At least three 
Vol. I.— No. l. 
E 
