86 On Birds observed in Northerji Somali-land. 



nistes leuroscepvs, as thick covert does not seem to be so 

 essential to it. Like the latter, it is very noisy, in the 

 morning and evening, and has a surprisingly loud, harsh cry 

 for so small a bird. It affords capital sport, as it rises well, 

 and its flesh, though rather dry, is always a welcome change. 



50. LoPHOTis GiNDiANA (Oust.) ; Sbarpc, Cat. B. Brit. 

 Mus. xxiii. p. 292 (1894). 



This little Bustard, called '^Gello" by the Somalis, is very 

 plentiful on the flat ground, where, however, it is much 

 oftener heard than seen. Its cry is rather mournful ; be- 

 ginning low down, it mounts the scale in a series of double 

 notes, the bird itself not infrequently, at the end of its 

 " song,^^ rising high into the air with rapid beating of the 

 wings, and when a sufficient height has been gained it will 

 throw back its head and neck till they seem to rest on its 

 back, and then flutter slowly to the ground, as if in a dying 

 condition. We found them breeding in March and April, 

 and several beautifully-marked round eggs were brought in 

 by the boys ; in each case the nest contained two. 



Of the Great Somali Bustard, called "Saramudly^^ by the 

 natives, Aylmer obtained one specimen, which was too 

 much damaged by the bullet to make a ' skin ' of : its flesh, 

 however, proved excellent for the table. In 1878 I flushed 

 a female from a nest containing two eggs. 



51. CuRSORius soMALENsis, Shellcy. 



Cursorius gallicus somalensis, Shelley, Ibis, 1885, p. 415. 



Having reached the top of the Sheik Pass, I started off 

 with my ' boy,^ Aden Arrali, in the hope of falling in with 

 another flock of the Somali Courser, as I had done 10 years 

 previously. In vain he tried to assure me that no birds 

 were to be found on the arid ground to which we made our 

 way. At last I reached the well-remembered spot, but, alas ! 

 no Coursers were to be seen, and I sat down, hot and tired. 

 I was almost smiling to myself that I should have been 

 sanguine enough to expect to find in the identical place the 

 descendants of the flock out of which I obtained my first 

 specimens, when suddenly something moving among the 



