rv 



THE IBIS. 



EIGHTH SERIES. 



No. V. JANUARY 1902. 



I. — On a Collection of Birds from Shendi, Sudan. By tlie 

 Hon. N. Charles Rothschild and A. F. R. Wollaston. 



(Plate I.) 



After a six days' journey from Cairo we arrived at Shendi 

 on February 16tli^ 1901. Various misadventures had delayed 

 us on our way into the Sudan, so, with a prospect of only five 

 weeks before we should have to turn northwards again, we 

 determined to make our camp at Shendi and to explore the 

 neighbouring ground as thoroughly as possible, rather than 

 attempt to hurry over a wide tract of country. 



Shendi is situated on the east bank of the Nile, about 

 midway between the Atbara River and Khartum ; it is 

 therefore well within the area of regular rainfall, which may 

 be roughly said to begin at the Atbara. Our choice of a 

 collecting-ground fell upon Shendi partly on account of its 

 comparatively luxuriant vegetation, which is richer than 

 that of any other part of the Nile Valley between Khartum 

 and Assuan (Shendi has even been called the garden of the 

 Sudan), partly because we expected to find there the northern 

 limit of many tropical species, partly also on account of the 

 fact that since the year 1850, when Mr. Galton collected 

 near the Fifth Cataract, no ornithologist has paid more than a 

 passing visit to this part of the country. 



The fact that Shendi is the only place in the Sudan where 

 it is possible to station cavalry is accounted for by the 



SEIl. VITI. vol. 11. B 



