With Flashlight and Rifle -* 



at the same spot. Noiselessly the strange umbretta (Scopus 

 umbretta] makes its appearance. It never fails to put in 

 an appearance at every large pool or drinking-place. This 

 bird builds its extraordinarily large nest, composed of 

 three compartments, always fairly close to the water, in 

 the fork-like branches of an acacia. Here it lays three 

 white eggs. We were constantly coming across this bird 

 by the pools and lakes and river-sides as we journeyed. 

 Although we once robbed a bird of two eggs it did not 

 seem inclined to forsake its nest. Sometimes it flies up 

 from almost beneath one's feet to find its way in a 

 crouching attitude to some gnarled branch in the vicinity of 

 the water, reminding one of the night-heron in its manner. 



Single specimens of the Egyptian goose (Chenalopex 

 cegyptiacus] are to be seen scattered about in every 

 direction. Vultures and marabous keep to special resorts 

 of their own. 



Here and there we saw marvellously coloured shrikes, 

 and amongst them the great grey shrike {Dryoscopns 

 funebris), in large numbers. These birds associate and 

 sing in pairs. The male will begin a harmonious note, to 

 be answered so exactly by his spouse that it gives the 

 impression of one bird singing. The song of these 

 beautiful birds sounds like the chiming of glass bells 

 among the thick river-side growth ; while from the summit 

 of an acacia-tree comes the quaintly jubilant note of the 

 shrike-like tschagra (7\'lephcnns senega 'Ins] Too-ri-ay, 

 Too-ri-ay, Too-ri-ay ! 



The impalla antelopes {sEpyceros melampns) are 

 -almost the only mammals that visit the water during 



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