432 
AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 
had taken a variety of excellent photos, of marabou, vul¬ 
tures, and kites feeding, and, above all, of a monitor lizard 
plundering the nest of a crocodile. The monitors were 
quite plentiful near camp. They are amphibious, carniv¬ 
orous lizards of large size; they frequent the banks of the 
river, running well on the land, and sometimes even climb¬ 
ing trees, but taking to the water when alarmed. They 
feed on mice and rats, other lizards, eggs, and fish; the 
stomachs of those we caught generally contained fish, for 
they are expert swimmers. One morning Loring sur¬ 
prised a monitor which had just uncovered some crocodile 
eggs on a small sandy beach. The eggs, about thirty in 
number, were buried in rather shallow fashion, so that the 
monitor readily uncovered them. The monitor had one 
of the eggs transversely in its mouth, and, head erect, was 
marching off with it. As soon as it saw Loring it dropped 
the egg and scuttled into the reeds; in a few minutes it 
returned, took another egg, and walked off into the bushes, 
where it broke the shell, swallowed the yolk, and at once 
returned to the nest for another egg. Loring took me out 
to see the feat repeated, replenishing the rifled nest with 
eggs taken from a crocodile the Doctor had shot; and I 
was delighted to watch, from our hiding place, the big lizard 
as he cautiously approached, seized an egg, and then re¬ 
tired to cover with his booty. Kermit came on a monitor 
plundering a crocodile’s nest at the top of a steep bank, 
while, funnily enough, a large crocodile lay asleep at the 
foot of the bank only a few yards distant. As soon as it 
saw Kermit the monitor dropped the egg it was carrying, 
ran up a slanting tree which overhung the river, and 
dropped into the water like a snake bird. 
