NATURE STUDY 
28 
the back of the neck brown edged with white and with dark 
shaft-stripes ; the feathers of the breast and abdomen much 
less conspicuously edged with chestnut. 
Length about 13§ inches, wing 6*8 inches, tail 8 inches, 
tarsus 1*9 inches. 
PTERNISTES BOEHMI 
Pternistes boehmi, Reichenow. 
4 Ogilvie-Grant’s Cat. Birds Brit. Mus.,’ Vol. XXII, page 179. 
‘ Sharpe’s Hand-List,’ Vol. I, page 26. ‘ Shelley’s Birds of 
Africa,’ Vol. I, page 129. 4 Reichenow’s Vogel Afrikas,’ Vol. I, 
page 458. 
On the authority of Professor Reichenow this bird was 
found on the Tana River by the late Dr. Fischer, and at Lake 
Elmenteita by Mr. Oscar Neumann. 
Male and Female . — Similar to P. cranchi, but with the 
upper breast-feathers white, vermiculated with black, and with 
black shaft-stripes ; those of the abdomen white with black 
shaft-stripes and wide reddish brown margins with small sub- 
marginal black bands. Iris brown ; naked skin of the face 
red, of the chin and throat yellow. 
NATURE STUDY 
By C. W. Hobley. 
There may be many members who are anxious to do some 
work in this field, and who are at the same time rather doubtful 
as to what they can do and w T here to begin ; one may compare 
such to a child placed in a room full of toys and standing 
wondering and confused, doubtful as to which it should select 
to amuse itself with. 
Most men, if they live long in a country like this, cannot 
help falling to some extent a victim to the spells of nature ; the 
wealth of the mammalian fauna and its attendant sport awakens 
a thrill in nearly all : some find the birds a fascinating attrac- 
tion, others succumb to the charms of the varied insect life, 
a few are attracted by the flora, and savage man again absorbs 
the attention of others. The scenery of the more rugged parts 
of the country appeals to the artistic eye, but it is feared that 
