Ornithology of Ike Egyptian Soudan. 357 



the Bahr-el-Ghazal and Jur Rivers. It is quite a swamp- 

 bird. 



166. Centropus superciliosus Hempr. & Ehr. 

 a. $ ? Eilafun, Blue Nile, Jan. 2, 1903. 



This bird occurs south of the Atbara to the Lower White 

 Nile, and along the Blue Nile to the Abyssinian frontier. 

 It keeps to the thick bush in the vicinity of rivers or 

 cultivated lands, and is of shy and skulking habits. It 

 frequents drier ground than the last species. 



167. Coccystes glandarius (Linn.). 



The Great Spotted Cuckoo is a rare migrant in the 

 Soudan. I saw one which was wantonly shot by an Italian 

 artisan at Khartoum on July 7th, 1901, and I have met 

 with it a few times in August and September. 



168. Cuculus canorus Linn. 



a. ? . Gedaref, April 21, 1901. 



The Cuckoo arrives in the Soudan in large flights, but 

 soon practically disappears again until its return journey 

 in the spring. At Khartoum I have noted September 13th 

 as the average date of its arrival. It passes north again 

 from the middle of April to the middle of May. 



Many of the autumn arrivals are so exhausted that they 

 can hardly fly ; in the spring this is not noticeable. 



169. Indicator sparrmani Steph. 



The Common Honey-Guide is not rare on the Blue Nile 

 tributaries, Atbara, and Setit. I observed that my native 

 guides, who were professional honey-collectors, always kept 

 an eye on these birds, and declared that they found much 

 of their honey by watching them. One certainly attracted 

 my attention to a comb, round which it was chattering 

 excitedly, but I cannot say that I ever saw these birds 

 make any obvious attempt to attract man's attention. The 

 truth is that the Honey-Guides know of all the bees' nests 

 in their neighbourhood and visit them constantly. By 

 following them about, therefore, one is pretty sure, sooner 

 or later, to find honey. 



