46 Bird Hunting on the WJiite Nile. 



in sight wading in shallow water or stalking about on 

 the short grass by the river. We sometimes passed 

 within a few yards of a group of crowned cranes,§ 

 with their rich colouring of black, white, and chestnut, 

 and their curious tufts of golden grass-like feathers, and 

 at one camp a confiding old bird used regularly to 

 roost on the top of a tree near our tents until he was 

 added to our collection. The sacred ibis,|| celebrated by 

 having been much mummified, and by its many portraits 

 upon the tombs and temples of ancient Egypt, was most 

 confiding. This bird only visits Egypt during the 

 period of inundation, and consequently very few tra- 

 vellers in that country see it, the buff-backed heron 

 being made to do duty for it by the tourists' dragoman. 

 However, the real thing is totally unlike the substitute. 

 Its jet black head and neck, which are bare of any 

 feathers, and its black legs, serve to accentuate the i)ure 

 white plumage of its body, while its wings are edged 

 with black like a mourning envelope, and from each 

 shoulder droop green-black feathery plumes. When 

 flying towards one the bird seems to be streaked with 

 blood, for the wing-bones are bare of feathers on the 

 under side, and the skin which covers them is of a rich 



§ Balearica pavonina, Linn. || Ibis iethiopica, Lath. 



