486 Mr. J. S. Budgett on the 



they greedily devoured the insects that attempted to escape 

 by flight. This was the only Bee-eater observed in large 

 flocks. I obtained many of the small Weaver-birds and 

 Flycatchers during my fishing expeditions, while the canoe 

 slid silently amongst the luxuriant vegetation of the little 

 creeks ; though sometimes we had to beat a hasty retreat^ as, 

 with a roar, a great cow hippopotamus splashed into the water 

 ahead, warning us that it was dangerous to approach her 

 young. 



On Feb. 1st I returned to McCarthy Island, as there was 

 some apprehension of an invasion by a neighbouring chief, 

 Jimba ma Joula, but the arrival of H.M.S. ' Alecto ' caused 

 him to change his mind. 



During February and March I made several trips up and 

 down the river, but got very little in the way of birds. The 

 Harmattan wincls, which were now at their worst, parched up 

 all the vegetation, blowing sand and dust over everything 

 and making life generally uncomfortable; the temperature at 

 midday was always over 100° F., and often 106° F., though 

 at night it became much cooler. At this time I procured, 

 specimens o( Buphaga africana, no easy matter with a bird 

 that clings so closely to the backs of cattle. 



In the early part of March I shot a Cormorant Avhich had 

 all the markings of the very young Phnlacrocorax lucidus 

 described by Capt. Boyd Alexander (see Brit. Mus. Cat. B. 

 xxvi. p. 351). I also obtained a fine specimen of Musophaga 

 violacea, with the head and wing-patch of a particularly bright 

 red. On the 2Jtli of March I went down the river to spend 

 a week at Quinela, on the south bank. Near that town 

 there was a well, much used by the natives, under the moist 

 shade of some mahogany-trees, and amongst the numberless 

 birds that frequented it I first obtained Oriulus galbula, the 

 uncommon Pogonor-hynchus vieilloti, Barbatula chrysocomis, 

 Zosterops senegalensis, and Terpsiphove melanog aster, re- 

 markable in the males for a steel-blue crest and magnificent 

 chestnut tail-streamers. One morning in the open plain I 

 came across a large flock of Glareola pratincola, which had 

 the peculiar habit of flying round for a minute or two and 

 then settling quite close at hand, apparently trusting to its 



