402 ZOOLOGY 



occurs to the Negro as a matter of initiative to domesticate the birds and 

 beasts around him. In parts of the Uganda Protectorate there are love- 

 birds, and there are several species of the Poeocephalus (usually green, 

 grey, and sulphur-yellow in colour). 



There is nothing specially remarkable about the gallinaceous birds. All 

 through the Protectorate guinea-fowl are extremely abundant, but they 

 appear to belong only to the two common species, the crested {Guttera 

 piicherani') and tlie horned {Nimiida ptilorhyiicha). The crested crane is 

 found throughout the Protectorate, but T do not think there is any other 

 member of the crane family within its limits. 



As regards birds of prey, a word might be said about the distril)ution 

 of the vultures. Throughout the Protectorate is found that common — and 

 commonplace — Necrosyrtes ntonachus, a small brown vulture with a whitish 

 head and neck. This is the common vulture from Sierra Leone on the 

 west to Mombasa on the east, and from Fashoda on the north to the 

 Zambezi on the south. It is a near ally of the much more strikingly 

 coloured Egyptian vulture. This last bird, however, only penetrates into 

 the Rudolf Province and Rift Valley in the eastern part of the Protectorate. 

 Although the big vultures of the genera Ofogyps and Gypjs are entirely 

 absent from the forested regions of Africa, they make their appearance in 

 the Uganda Protectorate in two directions in the same arid portions of the 

 Eastern Province and the countries round Lake Rudolf, and again in 

 the dryer part of the Semliki Valley, between Ruwenzori and the Congo 

 Forest. As a general rule it should be noted that between the Zambezi 

 on the south and the more arid regions of the Northern Sudan, vultures as 

 devourers of dead men and beasts are not such common objects as in the 

 desert or extra-tropical regions of the African continent. The common 

 Neophron vulture frequents the vicinity of all camps and settlements in 

 order to feed on offal and excrement much more than for the pur2:)0se of 

 devouring corpses. ^larabou storks and kites do a great deal more of this 

 work than the vultures, besides, of course, the hyaenas and jackals. Never- 

 theless, wherever the big vultures are present one may expect to see the 

 truly picturesque spectacle of the huge-winged, by no means ugly birds 

 hopping and flapping and croaking and guzzling over a dead body, so 

 covering u}) the bloody part of the scene with their splendid wings as to 

 deprive it of any element of horror. 



The black-crested eagle and the sci'eaming chocolate and white 

 fish eagle are very common and very beautiful objects amongst the 

 Uganda birds. 



The bateleur eagle is [)erhaps in coloration the brightest and most 

 conspicuous of all the birds of prey. This eagle is remarkable for its 

 very short tail feathers. These are reduced to a length scarcely exceeding 



