Ornithology of the Eyijpt'um Soudan. 207 



rugged and barren; vegetation is scanty and mostly confined 

 to the bottoms of the ravines. The Klipspringer gives place 

 to the Nubian Ibex and Salt's Dik-dik, while the birds just 

 mentioned gradually disappear. The little Ammoperdix 

 cholmleyi succeeds the big Francolin, and small Passerine 

 birds are scarce. I follovred a large ravine, the Khor Ashat, 

 eastwards out of the hills, emerging on to the maritime 

 plain again thirty-six miles south of Suakin, and then turned 

 south towards Kassala. (From Suakin to Kassala is three 

 hundred miles.) 



From Suakin to Jebel Maman (seventy-six miles N. of 

 Kassala) the country is, on the whole, very barren, the track 

 running over sandy or stony ground, and skirting bare, 

 rocky hills. Several broad, shallow, sandy " khors/^ fringed 

 with Dom-palms and tamarisk, are crossed. This coast- 

 plain is inhabited by Soemmerring's and Isabelline Gazelles 

 and wild asses, with Dik-dik at the " khors.'' 



From Jebel Maman the country changes to black-cotton 

 soil and carries much more bush. Such species as Ammo- 

 perdix cholmleyi, Rhodophoneus cruentus, Argya acacia, and 

 Pyrrhulauda melanauchen disappear, and Corvus scapulatus, 

 Coracias ahyssinicus, Laniarius erythrog aster, &c. are at once 

 met with, while Heuglin's Gazelle almost entirely replaces 

 the Isabelline. Here we turned a little south-west to a 

 place called Filik, to try for a lion, and my cousin, Mr. H. 

 Boughton Leigh, who was with me, got a lion and a lioness. 

 I do not think that they range much further north than 

 this, but south along the Atbara they are numerous. From 

 Kassala we went west to the Atbara (40 miles), followed the 

 river to Tomat (56 miles), crossed to Gedaref (45 miles), 

 from there to Wad Medani on the Blue Nile (146 miles), 

 and returned down the river by steamer to Khartoum. 



Journey in the Bahr-el-Ghazal Province 

 (January to April, 1907) . 

 From Meshra-el-Rek to Wau "^ the general direction of 

 the road is south-west, and the distance about a hundred 



* Wau, 7° 41' 50" N. lat., 28° 2' 58" E. long. 



q2 



