. On safari : big game hunting in British East Africa, with studies in bird-life . dge a dozen activenatives, and, by a series of bounds, and with its quillsall rattling;, gained refug-e in a crevice of rock. Thestomach of that secured contained grass, seeds and othervegetable-matter only. Guinea-fowl and francolins sped down the glens likedriven blackcock, and curious nightjars (Cosmetornisvexillarius, the pennant-winged nightjar) fiicked upand dived back among the scrub, while our commonEng-lish swallows filled the air. These were constantcompanions, snapping up, under our lee, the insectsdi
. On safari : big game hunting in British East Africa, with studies in bird-life . dge a dozen activenatives, and, by a series of bounds, and with its quillsall rattling;, gained refug-e in a crevice of rock. Thestomach of that secured contained grass, seeds and othervegetable-matter only. Guinea-fowl and francolins sped down the glens likedriven blackcock, and curious nightjars (Cosmetornisvexillarius, the pennant-winged nightjar) fiicked upand dived back among the scrub, while our commonEng-lish swallows filled the air. These were constantcompanions, snapping up, under our lee, the insectsdisturbed by the beaters. Other small British birdsobserved on the equator in January included wlieatear,tree-pipit, yellow and grey wagtails. THE ATHI EIVER 211 Notable also were the great eagle-owls that camesailing silently down the glen before the beaters—greatmottled fellows, grey and black {Bubo maculosus), thatperched on some boulder, and sat there snapping andseemingly inclined to resent the intrusion on discoveringone close by. Either these owls or the still bigger and. PENNANT-WINGED NIGHTJAR. very handsome Buho lacteus were responsible for mostunearthly hootings which we heard at times, startlingthe midnight echoes. There were also two kinds ofeagles : the larger, light-breasted and broad-tailed, withshort rounded wings, was the crowned hawk-eagle(Spizaetus coronatus), a fierce and powerful species thatmade magnificent stoops after our startled guinea-fowl—these, however, escaping by tumbling pell-mell amongthe scrub, the eagle buoyantly sweeping upwards with alittle wild cry of vexation. The actual stoop was afine sight—the v/iugs being gradually drawn in at theshoulder till the great bird resembled an arrow-head, and 212 ON SAFARI one heard the rush of air at a quarter-mile (see p. 224).This eas^le, on seeino its orioinal aim to be untrue, hadthe power instantly to check its on-rnsh; then, afterpoising a second, to renew the attack on a differentline. In Somali
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Keywords: ., bookauthorchapmana, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookyear1908
