TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 195 
dawn. I saw the ponies watered myself before turning 
in, and I slept eight hours straight on end. 
Going out late in the evening with the object of 
securing something for the pot, I came on a regular 
aviary of birds. Sand grouse and pigeons, guinea-fowl 
and wild geese, and small birds too in thousands. I 
lay down for a little and watched the small ones 
preparing for the night. I love the tiny birds of 
Somaliland, and never wearied of studying their pretty 
ways. It seems to me that they are most beautiful in 
proportion to their size of any bird life. The protec- 
tions, the pleadings, the dances, the love-making, the 
little furies, the make-believes, cannot be excelled in 
charm. 
I was too wearied out to bother much, even though 
food in plenty was there to my hand, and I don’t like 
killing anything so tame, even when I ought to. When 
I got back to camp I sent Clarence out with instruc- 
tions to shoot some guinea-fowl and geese. 
A vast caravan of some hundreds arrived at the 
wells in the middle of that night, and things hummed 
for an hour or so. I was not disturbed, except by the 
wrangling that went on all the hours until dawn. It 
was very cold, and my “ carpet ” ended on the top 
of me ! 
