150 Phillips, Birds of the Sudan. LApril 



musical call, and from the sky above came the clamor of hundreds 

 and it seemed thousands of European Cranes. Off in the distance 

 was the confused sound of the village, donkeys, dogs and drums all 

 jumbled together and softened into a weird sort of chant. 



During the night we fought off the many hungry dogs, but not 

 until they had stolen all our available lunch for the coming day. 

 It was cold by 4:00 a. m., and we were out early, trying to warm 

 up. At dawn we took our guns and strolled off into the great fields 

 of durrah grain, then mostly harvested. For miles around Sennar 

 there is hardly a tree left, the Blue-Nile flows drearily through a 

 deep channel with high mud banks, with great sand bars and 

 beaches at their bases. The current is swift and the water clear, 

 coming as it does from the mountain region of Abyssinia, but by 

 January this river is usually too low for steamboat navigation. 

 Birds were about these fields in great numbers, but not of many 

 kinds. First must come the cranes which winter all the way from 

 Khartoum to Rosseires. They are mostly the Grey Crane of 

 eastern Europe, Megalornis grus grus, but there are some of the 

 smaller Demoiselle Cranes and a few African Crowned Cranes. 

 No books had given us any idea of the enormous numbers of cranes 

 on the Blue-Nile. It was by far the most notable bird sight of 

 the region, and pleasing because unexpected. These cranes spend 

 the night on the river sands in flocks of hundreds and always far 

 away from any cover, so that they are perfectly safe. They 

 feed inland mostly where there is cultivation and never seem to 

 pass along the same flight lines. Their wariness is remarkable 

 and it was pleasant to see such a safe retreat for these splendid 

 fowl. I wondered why bird fanciers were made to pay ninety to 

 one hundred and twenty-five dollars for a living pair, but no doubt 

 on their breeding range they are scattered and hard to trap. By 

 the end of February nearly all of these cranes had moved away 

 from Sennar. 



Other birds we saw that first morning were doves in endless 

 numbers, their calls resounding in every direction. Here we 

 obtained Turtur isahellinus, which we did not get again. Other 

 turtle doves were very abundant, and the little long-tailed Cape 

 Dove was seen everywhere, walking about the path in front of us, 

 always very tame. This attractive bird is now imported alive 



