Balreniccps rex 07i Luke Victoria. 335 



the shores of the Victoria Nyanza, and why the bird should 

 not extend its area (which at present includes Lake Albert) 

 to the Albert Edward and the waters o£ the Upper Congo. 

 I myself certainly believe that I saw a Bakeniceps in 1882 

 on the swamps of the Upper Cunene River^ in about 15° south 

 latitude, at the back of Portuguese Angola. Sir H. M. 

 Stanley was wont to assert that he had seen the bird on the 

 extreme Upper Congo. But neither he nor I have been 

 able to advance any further proofs in support of our belief. 

 I was much impressed by the vast numbers of water- fowl 

 which displayed themselves on the northern and eastern 

 shores of Lake Albert Edward, where from a picturesque 

 point of view the display of birds was magnificent ; but I 

 never noticed amongst the many kinds of waders anything 

 like Balaniceps rex, nor could the natives inform me that 

 it was seen there. It is undoubtedly common at the back of 

 Busoga on the great swamps and marshy lakes which are 

 attached to the system of the Victoria Nile. Balceniceps 

 is often seen at the north end of Lake Albert, and thence 

 north-west to within a hundred miles or so of Khartum. 



Curiously enough, none of the Europeans residing in the 

 Uganda Protectorate, missionaries or officials, had ever 

 noticed this remarkable bird on the shores of the Victoria 

 Nyauza before Mr. Doggett shot the first specimen ; and tiiis 

 fact is the more singular when we remember what ati ardent 

 and all-searching collector is Mr. F. J. Jackson, C,B., who 

 has done so much to enrich our National Collection. Never- 

 theless this failure to distinguish B al aniceps mxxst have been 

 due to a pure oversight, and not, as some people have argued, 

 to the fact that the bird had only recently extended its range 

 to the shores of the Victoria Nyanza from the Upper Nile. 

 That this is not the explanation may be shown from the facts 

 that the bird has a well-known name — " Bulue '^ — in the 

 Luganda tongue, and that the natives of Uganda tell me 

 that it was always known to their forefathers and was a 

 familiar object in the marshes. The natives differ somewhat 

 in their accounts as to its breeding-habits, but are agreed 

 for the most part that it makes an untidy unwieldy nest on 



