BIRDS 
333 
GAVI^ (Gulls). 
Gull {Lams hemprichi). 
Berbera. 
Iris brown ; colour brown with a white collar. 
PYGOPODES (Grebes). 
Cape Grebe (Tachybaptes capensis). 
Sheik Mohamed. 
Iris brown. 
KATIT^ (Ostriches). 
The Somali Ostrich {Struthio molybdophanes). 
Saylah Bun (waterless Haud) ; Dumberelli (Ogaden) ; Bun Feroli and 
Gobtelleli, Boorgha country. 
Male : Head and neck covered with down ; naked legs, which are slate- 
coloured, with a bright red patch on the front of the legs above the feet ; 
feathers on body black, with white plumes on wings and tail ; two toes 
on each foot. Female : Feathers of body brown ; eggs a dirty white, 
indented with small circles. Height of male, about 3^ feet to top of back. 
REPTILES. 
The Crocodile {C. niloticus). 
Swarming in the Webbi Shebeyli and Webbi Ganana. 
Colour uniform dark olive ; skull comparatively smooth. A large one 
measured 13 feet long. In order to kill a crocodile and recover him, he 
must be shot in the brain, which is immediately behind the ear. The 
plates on the body are easily pierced by a bullet, but when hit obliquely 
the bullet will often ricochet. 
TORTOISES. 
Land Tortoise. 
Leopard Tortoise {Testudo pardalis). 
Hargaisa, Sibi, and the Boorgha country. 
I picked up this extremely handsome tortoise in all sizes. The carapace of 
an adult was 32 inches long and 28 inches broad, both measurements 
being taken along the curve ; a young one measured 9| inches long and 
8^ inches broad, and a very young one, which was most beautifully 
marked, measured 4^ inches long and 4 inches broad. The young ones 
I found for the most part in stony ground, the large ones in the luxuriant 
grass. It was amusing to see a whole army of these monsters migrating 
from one patch of grass across a desert to another patch of fresh grass. 
The ground colour is yellow, with sexagonal rings of black, the sides 
being spotted with black ; under surface plain yellow. 
