CHAPTER XVII 
THE ATHI PLAINS 
(i) FLYING VISIT IN SEPTEMBER 1904 
The rolling downs known as the At hi Plains are 
familiar to all travellers on the Uganda railway, and 
I need not stop to describe the spectacle of animal-life 
that can be enjoyed from the carriage windows through¬ 
out a distance of close upon 150 miles. Nowhere 
else on earth can w T ild game be seen to such advantage, 
in all the luxury of a corridor-carriage. 
It was merely a flying visit that I paid to the Athi 
in 1904, since only forty-eight hours remained available 
for shooting before the homeward-bound train was due at 
Athi River station ; and in that short time my object 
was to secure specimens of Coke’s hartebeest and of the 
East-African blue wildebeest or white-bearded gnu. 
Leaving Nairobi at 3 p.m. (September 17), and being 
mounted on a riding-mule, we covered that evening 
more than half of the nineteen miles that separate the 
tin capital from Athi River. On this march many 
hartebeests were seen, but all hopelessly wild, and the 
half-day closed blank. 
Starting again before dawn, and riding in advance 
of the safari, I descried in the half-light some 400 
yards ahead an ostrich that certainly had not been in 
sight five seconds before. This seemed inexplicable, 
but on riding to the spot, there lay eleven huge eggs 
scattered at random over a bare spot from which the 
grass had been roughly scratched aw 7 ay. Four selected 
specimens furnished excellent omelettes for my wdiole 
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