Xo. 7. — Mamvials from ihe Blue Nile Valley. 



By Glover M. Allen. 



Ix January and February, 1913, I accompanied Dr. J. C. Phillips 

 on his expedition up the Blue Nile and the Dinder River in the 

 interests o!' the ]\Iuseum. A considerable effort was made to collect 

 the birds (see Bull. M. C. Z., December, 1913, 58, p. 1-2S) and mam- 

 mals of the region, and Dr. Phillips has generously left to me the 

 working out of the latter. Our route lay along the Blue Nile, from 

 Sennar, where our real start was made, to Singa, the present seat of 

 government for Sennar Province. At this point we crossed to the 

 north bank, for the south bank is a game reserve, and proceeded along 

 it to the Abyssinian border, stopping at Fazogli, an outlying ' gebel ' of 

 the Al)yssinian foothills. We later retraced our steps to Abu Tiga, 

 and thence crossed over to the Dinder, an affluent of the main river, 

 that becomes partly dry in the rainless season. The upper portion of 

 this river seemed to have been very little disturbed, and large game 

 was abundant and very unsuspicious. Along the Blue Nile, however, 

 and on the lower parts of the Dinder, the native population is increas- 

 ing and there is much travelling up and down along the river banks. 

 On the Blue Nile especially, parties of Arabs and negroes are con- 

 stantly passing, and English officials make their rounds between 

 Singa and Roseires or other points. With the increase of native 

 population, the clearing of the land, and disturbance incident to 

 human occupation, the large game must inevitably be gradually 

 driven back or exterminated by hunting. It is generally believed that 

 the native population of the Sudan, during the time of the Mahdi and 

 his successor (1883-1898) was reduced through war, famine, and 

 disease about 75%, amounting to the almost total extinction of the 

 inhabitants along the Rahad and Dinder, as well as on the Blue Nile, 

 so that many of the villages marked on the older maps no longer exist. 

 This no doubt has been favorable for the increase of large game in 

 later years. On these rivers now, however, the habitations are being^ 

 reestablished gradually, and population will doubtless reclaim the 

 country in time. It therefore has seemed worth while to record the 

 more striking facts we noted concerning the habits and distribution of 

 the larger mammals, for they must eventually be much reduced or 

 destroyed altogether. A few species seem better adapted to survive 



