96 Bird Hunting on the White J^ile. 



For two hours after we had got rid of the dancers an 

 almost overpowering smell of ointment hung heavily in 

 the air, and w© were only too glad to cut short our 

 mid-day rest and resume collecting. Hearing at some 

 distance a loud wild whistle somewhat like that of a 

 buzzard, I followed up the sound and tried to get near 

 the bird that made it. But it was a long chase. The 

 country was fairly open and the bird very shy, so that 

 it easily managed to' watch me and with heavy dipping 

 flight to keep well out of range. At length, however, a 

 wooded place gave me the advantage, and after a short 

 stalk I secured the bird, which proved to be a dark- 

 coloured hombill.* Most of the hornbills, as is well 

 known, are characterised by an exceedingly large bill, 

 the upper part of which is thickened to such an extent 

 as to form a sort of casque, and the whole is usually 

 brilliantly coloured. The bird I had just secured had a 

 large heavy curved bill, but the casque was small and 

 scarcely noticeable, while in colour the bill was black. 

 A smaller speciesf of hombill, which was fairly common 

 in the district, also had a comparatively slender bill, but 

 coloured more brightly with red, black and yellow. 



These curious birds were, unfortunately, not breeding 



* Lophoceros nasutus (Linn.). 



f Lophoceros erythrorhyncus (Temm.). 



