Birds from the White Nile. 397 



after sundown we had either to sit in the smoke o£ the fire 

 or retire under our mosquito-nets. My men got terribly- 

 bitten, as they had neglected to bring nets with them. Birds 

 were scarce, and I saw only those o£ the same species as I 

 had observed near the river. On returning to Fashoda, we 

 found that four of our men and two of the crew had been 

 locked up by the sergeant, as they had created a disturbance 

 and done a bit of fighting while celebrating the feast of Bairan. 

 I met Mr. Loat and Mr. Gunn, P.R.C.S., at Fashoda. The 

 former was collecting fishes for the Egyptian Government, 

 and had been as far south as Lake No. He had been 

 very successful, but was handicapped by being unable to 

 procure a sufficient supply of spirit, as the railway authorities 

 were unwilling to take the risk of carrying it. Rain began to 

 fall at Fashoda, and the men who had been with us inland 

 were attacked by malaria, due most likely to the mosquito- 

 bites, so we started on our return journey on April 3rd. 

 On the 5th we camped about 30 miles north of Fashoda, 

 and stopped there for ten days to collect. We got several 

 buffalos, and shot a good many lions in that district. On 

 the 15th we sailed north and stopped south of Kaka to collect 

 till May 7th, but as all our men and most of the crew were 

 sufifering from fever we determined to return to Omdurman. 

 The south Avind was blowing regularly now, so Ave made 

 good way and collected as Ave Avent. The swarms of Ducks 

 and most of the Waders had disappeared, and only Gecf^e 

 and the regular summer residents remained. We arrived at 

 Omdurman on May 26th and found it nearly deserted, as 

 the officials had all moA'ed OA'er to their new quarters in 

 Khartum. 



The results of the expedition were satisfactory so far as 

 the specimens of the larger mammals went, for avc obtained 

 the skins of buftalo, roan antelope, waterbuck, Avhite-eared 

 kob, tiang, gazelle, oribi, and reedbuck, besides killing eight 

 lions and a leopard. We got only a few specimens of the 

 smaller mammals. In birds I Avas disappointed, as I expected 

 to get many more species ; Doves and Weaver-birds swarmed, 

 but other small kinds, especially Larks, were scarce. On 



