observed in Northern Somali-land, 75 



squirrels than of birds. Tlieir cry strangely resembles the 

 bleat of a goat, and 1 remember being bitterly disappointed 

 in 1885, after a ten days' waterless march, to find that the 

 ■welcome " baaing," which would have meant to us milk and 

 water, proceeded only from a flock of these birds. Alas ! the 

 wells to Avhich we had been pressing were dry and the 

 herds had been moved elsewhere. The flight of this Touraco 

 very much resembles that of the Magpie, and immediately 

 on alighting they raise and lower their handsome crests. 



11. Centropus superciliosus, Hempr. et Ehr. ; Shelley, 

 Ibis, 1886, p. 400. 



To this Cuckoo — so seldom seen, yet so often heard — the 

 traveller is indebted for one of the most charming sounds 

 heard on the march whencA^er the latter follows the course 

 of running water, for the Centropus loves the dense masses 

 of reeds which are always to be found in such localities. So 

 shy, however, is it that it was only during last winter (my 

 fifth spent in East Africa) that I was able to identify the 

 beautiful familiar bell-like tones with the well-known bird 

 occasionally seen scuttling away into covert at one's approach. 

 Its song, if such it can be called, consists of ten clear distinct 

 notes following each other down the scale with the utmost 

 regularity. I had previously (I don't know why) attributed 

 these sounds to a little bronze Dove, when to my delight and 

 surprise, as I was waiting for large game, well hidden in a 

 patch of reeds, I saw a Ground-Cuckoo steal out of another 

 patch, when, doubtless thinking himself alone and unobserved, 

 he mounted a stone and began to sing, repeating the song 

 every few minutes ; but he kept an anxious look-out from 

 side to side as if in fear of being caught in the act, like a shy 

 human amateur. 



12. CucuLUs GULARis, Stcpli.; Shelley, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. 

 xix. p. 244 (1890). 



Two Cuckoos were seen, at a place called Gotten, at the 

 base of the Goolis range, Aylmer shot a specimen of 

 C. gularis, so that the other Cuckoos observed were probably 

 of this species. 



