EASTERN ETHIOPIA 
XV 
184 
again. Bee-eaters are easy birds to watch, for they are 
not shy, and allow a close approach. Their colours are 
best displayed when the bird is on the wing. The 
Nubian Bee-eater is famous for its crimson plumage. 
When flying in the sun it is a brilliant object, but after 
death the colour rapidly fades. No one can realise tlie 
splendour of this bird from a prepared skin. Bee-eaters 
are very common in Ethiopia, and are often seen in 
docks. 
The ground between our camp and the narrow helt of 
green grass, reeds, and thorn trees fringing the lake was 
covered with tall dry grass in many places four feet 
high. When grass is tall and grows uniformly over the 
ground, walking through it is tiresome. Often it grows 
in small tussocks, and appears to form rows much like 
wheat when sown with a drill ; in this case the 
mules dnd their way easily through it. The ground 
was soft, sandy, and full of holes, some of them very 
big. The large holes were excavated by wart-hogs, and 
by an animal odd in shape, grotesque in appearance, 
with a name to match, Orycterojms. This funny 
animal digs holes in the sand with its feet, as its 
Greek name implies. The settlers call it the antbear. 
The Dutch settlers in Cape Colony many years ago 
named it aard-vark, or earth-pig, but it belongs to 
the same group as the ant-eaters. This animal feeds 
on ants; it is harmless, timid, nocturnal in habits, 
and its teeth have sorely puzzled anatomists on 
account of their peculiar shape. The hole made by the 
aard-vark is too small to accommodate the wart-hog, 
and in order to save himself trouble the hog appro¬ 
priates a hole already excavated by his neighbour, 
and enlarges it to suit himself. The wart-hog is a lazy 
fellow, and only digs a hole just big enough to lodge 
his body; as he cannot turn round in the hole, he must 
enter it tail first. A large number of the holes are 
unoccupied, for wart-hogs often change their residence. 
It is easy to know which holes are “ to let,” for as soon 
