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ings — may be met with as the days go by. White 

 Egrets, large and small, Buif-backed Cattle-Egrets, 

 Pelicans and Herons of several kinds, from the huge 

 Brown and Grey Goliath Heron to the small Blue- 

 Grey Bitterns standing so stolid and motionless on 

 some branch just above the water's edge, or stalking 

 with steps almost chameleon-like in their sedateness 

 along the narrow shelf of mud beneath the thick 

 shelter of the overhanging or tangle-covered bank — 

 all these are common, as well as others of their kind. 

 Storks and Ibis, as well as the usual river-haunting 

 waders. Plovers, among which the Black and White 

 Spurwings are conspicuous, Red-legged Stilts, Curlew, 

 and a host of others. Again and again too up gets a 

 Hammerhead, a foul-looking and a foul-feeding sort 

 of Heron, which is found wherever there is water, and 

 whose nests, huge masses of grass and weed fixed 

 high up in the fork of a tree, are seen (and smelt) 

 here and there along the banks of the river and its 

 creeks. Doves and Black Pigeon are everywhere, and 

 can often be shot from the deck, when the dingey is 

 available to retrieve them ; Fruit-Pigeons too, beautiful 

 birds with green, yellow, and mauve plumage, fly 

 overhead or are seen feeding in family parties on 

 some "shoto" tree, a kind of wild fig, in search of 

 which these birds move irregularly about the country, 

 stopping in a district as long as they can find any 

 ripe fruit and then wandering on to other places where 

 the trees ripen later. 



Wherever one gets a view of the open swamp a 

 Black Crested Eagle is sure to be visible, perched on 

 the dead top of some low tree, and surveying with 

 thrown-back head and insolent stare the surrounding 



