282 
African Game Trails 
in rather shallow fashion, so that the moni¬ 
tor 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 min¬ 
utes it returned, took another egg, and 
ran up a slanting tree which overhung the 
river, and dropped into the water like a 
snake bird. 
There was always something interesting 
to do or to see at this camp. One afternocn 
I spent in the boat. The papyrus along the 
channel rose like a forest, thirty feet high, 
Mr. Roosevelt with the Belaeniceps rex or whale-billed stork- at Lake No. 
From a photograph by Kermit Roosevelt. 
walked off into the bushes, where it broke 
the shell, swallowed the yolk, and at once 
returned to the nest for another egg. Lor¬ 
ing 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 ap¬ 
proached, seized an egg, and then retired 
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, 
the close-growing stems knit together by 
vines. As we drifted down, the green wall 
was continually broken by openings, 
through which side streams from the great 
river rushed, swirling and winding, down 
narrow lanes and under low archways, into 
the dim mysterious heart of the vast reed 
beds, where dwelt bird and reptile and 
water beast. In a shallow bay we came on 
two hippo cows with their calves, and a 
dozen crocodiles. I shot one of the latter— 
as I always do, when I get a chance—and it 
turned over and over, lashing with its tail 
as it sank. A half-grown hippo came up 
close by the boat and leaped nearly clear of 
the water; and in another place I saw a 
