CH. XV] CORMORANTS AXD WAGTAILS 435 



wholly exceptional. He was taking a swim in a pool 

 when the bird lit beside him. It paid no more heed to 

 the naked white man than it would have paid to a 

 hippo, and, although it would not allow itself to be 

 actually touched, it merely moved a few feet out of his 

 way when he approached it. Moreover, it seemed to 

 be on the lookout for enemies in tlie air, not in the 

 water. It was continually glancing upward, and, when 

 a big hawk appeared, followed its movements with close 

 attention. It stayed in and about the pool for many 

 minutes before flying off*. I suppose that certain eagles 

 and hawks prey on cormorants ; but I should also be 

 inclined to think that crocodiles at least occasionally 

 prey on them. 



The most attractive birds we met in Middle ^Vfrica 

 and along the Nile were the brave, cheery little wag- 

 tails. They wear trim black-and-white suits, when on 

 the ground they walk instead of hopping, they have a 

 merry, pleasing song, and they are as confiding and 

 fearless as they are pretty. The natives never molest 

 them, for they figure to advantage in the folklore of the 

 various tribes. They came round us at every halting- 

 place, entering the rest-houses in Uganda and some- 

 times even our tents, coming up within a few feet of us 

 as we lay under trees, and boarding our boats on the 

 Nile ; and they would stroll about camp quite uncon- 

 cernedly, in pairs, the male stopping every now and 

 then to sing. Except the whisky jacks and Hudsonian 

 chickadees of the North Woods, I never saw such tame 

 little birds. 



At Gondokoro we met the boat which the Sirdar, 

 Major-General Sir Reginald VN^ingate, had sent to take 

 us down the Nile to Khartoum ; for he, and all the 

 Soudan officials — including especially Colonel Asser, 



