4 C. S. Webb—Some Notes on a Collecting Trip in Kenya


Karati Bush, is more interesting and after a good deal of exploring one

may get a glimpse of that charming bird the Purple Grenadier Waxbill

(Granatina ianthinogaster), which belongs to the same genus as the

Violet-eared Waxbill ( G. granatina) but is much more beautiful. These

may sometimes be seen in semi-bare places in the bush, apparently

pecking in the soil. There are no seeding grasses in such places, and

probably never were, and it can only be concluded that they are eating

minute wind-borne seeds which are more easily found where the ground

is bare. In the tropics where the hot air is constantly causing miniature

whirlwinds, dust and small seeds and leaves, etc., are carried high into

the skies, and in this way the small dust-like seeds of many weeds

travel tremendous distances. This is particularly noticeable where a

clearing has been made in the middle of a big forest, where under

ordinary circumstances none of these weeds and plants can grow, but

immediately there is sufficient air and light they spring up in a few days,

although there may be no similar things growing within many miles.

It has happened sometimes that, after fields have been cultivated and

sown with grain, that there has been an invasion by Doves [Streptopelia)

which have been slaughtered wholesale, only to be proved by someone

with a little more knowledge, by examining the stomachs, that they

were not eating any grain at all, but were devouring the wind-borne

seeds of obnoxious weeds carried from fallow native lands, many miles

away. I mention this to illustrate that very little is known about

the economic value of birds, and if a little of the vast amount of money

which is spent in trying to find new sub-species were devoted to this

purpose it would be doing a service to mankind, and to the birds

themselves. Other rarities to be found in the Karati Bush were the

Kenya Highlands Scarlet-chested Sunbird (Chalcomitra senegalensis

lamperti), the Kenya Highlands Amethyst Sunbird (C. amethystina

doggetti), the Bronzy Sunbird (Nectarinia kilimensis ), the Golden¬

winged Sunbird (Drepanorhynchus reichenowi), the Kenya Malachite

Sunbird {Nectarinia famosa cenigularis), and the Falkenstein’s Sunbird

already mentioned.


These are all exceedingly beautiful. The Bronzy Sunbird,

Falkenstein’s, and the two Chalcomitras do not go above the

escarpment. Besides Sunbirds there are also a fair quantity of Boilers



