388 Mr. A. L. Butler on the 



287. Ftilopachys fuscus (Vieill.). 



a -Jc. g g & ? ? . Eleven specimens. Jebel Melbis, 

 April 1904. 



The only locality in which I have found the little Stone- 

 Pheasant is the khor which runs from El Obeid to Jebel 

 Melbis (Kordofau). Along this dry sandy nullah, which is 

 fringed with large trees and thickets, the birds were numerous, 

 but they did not appear to leave the immediate vicinity 

 of the khor. They were almost invariably in small parties 

 of from five to seven ; they kept in very close company, and 

 closely resembled diminutive bantam-hens, carrying their 

 tails erect and in the same manner. They were very shy, 

 and when approached scuttled off into the thickets with great 

 rapidity. They seldom flew, except from the other side of a 

 dense thicket, and all my specimens were obtained by 

 running shots. They seemed silent birds, but once or twice 

 when a party had been scattered by a couple of shots the 

 survivors commenced a shrill little screaming cry. Their 

 flesh is excellent. 



Immature birds which I shot seemed to have been bred 

 in the previous rains and were fully grown. 



The Stone-Pheasant also occurs in the Bahr-el-Ghazal 

 Province. 



288. NUMIDA PTILOHHYNCHA Licht. 



a. ? . Jebel Alatarang, March 1901. 



This Guinea-fowl is abundant — in places extraordinarily 

 so — practically all over the Soudan wherever there is bush. 

 I have not myself seen it north of the islands below the Sixth 

 (Shabluka) Cataract, nor is it really plentiful until above 

 Wad Medani on the Blue Nile and Jebel Ain on the White 

 Nile. 



In some parts of the country its numbers are astonishing. 

 At times I have had hundreds and hundreds toddling away 

 in front of me in one great blue-grey drove. Such large 

 numbers were a perfect nuisance if I happened to be stalking 

 big game, rising at every step with noise enough to ruin my 

 chances of escaping detection, and many a stately Kudu bull 



