104 Bird Hunting on the White Nile. 



specimens of this bird were known and they had been 

 brought home many years ago; three by Riippell and 

 one by either Schimper or Baron von Miiller. The exact 

 locality from which they ca.me was uncertain, but it was 

 known to bo from somewhere in the Sennaar district. Con- 

 sequently the bird was one of our possible prizes and was 

 hunted for accordingly. The plumage of the head and 

 back of this lovely goatsucker is lik:e burnished gold 

 with small spots and bars of black and grey, while the 

 breast is buff coloured. A bird of such colouring 

 should evidently live amongst yellow sand, but the desert 

 for the most part of the country we traversed was of a 

 gritty gi'ey colour. It was not until we were within 

 twelve miles of Khartoum on our return that we found 

 the desert of a colour to match the goatsucker. But all 

 our search was useless. The goatsucker was not to be 

 found by tramping over the burning sand. Then good 

 fortune came to our aid. 



There is just a short half-hour after sunset when tlie 

 bats begin to fly and one can see to shoot them against 

 the fast waning light in the west. On one of our last 

 evenings of camp life I was trying to shoot some small 

 bats that were flitting round the tents. The first that 

 dropped I failed to find in the darkness, so I marked 

 the place where it seemed to fall by a small pyramid 



