THE ATHI RIVER 
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pierced, within a mile, by the nearest of the frowning 
lion-ravines; while close in front dawdled the sluggish 
Athi. Its banks, elsewhere open, here merged in forest- 
belts, and a deep pool below the camp was embowered 
in dense scrub, fringed outside with trees. This weird 
pool abounded in tropical scenes. Amidst a varied 
population, it harboured, we found, a monster hippo 
and numerous crocodiles. The tall acacias outside were 
festooned with pendent nests of weaver-finches, scores on 
a branch—like a heavy crop of jargonelle pears; inside, 
also, the bush and palmites overhanging the stagnant 
water were laden with nests, some almost dipping the 
surface. These belonged to another species. The 
pennant-winged nightjar already named above, abounded 
on the riverside, flicking up at one’s feet, sometimes 
three or four together, and all settling again, often on 
bare sand, within a dozen yards. 
We spent many evenings by that pool in an attempt 
to secure the hippo—none the less enjoyable in that the 
main object failed. The bird-life atoned for that. 
Besides the weavers and an infinity of doves, of king¬ 
fishers, azure and pied, there also abode here the 
singular hammer-head (Scopus umbretta), whose huge 
nest—an accumulation of sticks that would fill a 
cottage—burdened a waterside fork. Small cormorants 
(some dark, others buff-breasted), and those extraordinary 
birds, the darters, with exaggerated snake-like necks, sat 
perched on protruding snags or dived in opaque green 
depths. The darters also displayed various hues : yet 
all belong to but one species, Plotus rufus. These birds 
possessed a joint breeding-colony a mile or two further 
up the river, their nests being massed on low willows 
and overhanging bush ; while the tall overarching trees 
above were occupied by a heronry. The latter com¬ 
munity included both purple, black-headed and night- 
herons; while a big separate single nest belonged, I 
fancy, to a pair of wood-ibis that were always seen hard 
by. The buff-backed herons maintained a separate 
establishment of their own—among thorn-trees, in a 
