THE PRIMEVAL FORESTS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 229 



caught and borne to a sand-bank. While the eagle, which held its 

 booty firmly in its talons or stood upon it, was breaking off pieces 

 of the flesh, the parasite at the lordly bird's table kept at a respect- 

 ful distance; but as soon as the eagle raised its head to swallow, the 

 crocodile-bird ran forward, seized one of the prepared fragments, 

 and was off again to his old position, there to enjoy his stolen goods. 

 Not less astonishing than this self-possessed audacity is the way in 

 which the crocodile-bird hides its eggs from prying eyes. For long 

 I searched in vain for the nest. When the brooding period set in 

 was readily enough discovered by dissecting a specimen which I 

 killed; and that the bird must nest on the sand-bank I was already 

 convinced from my observation of its mode of life. But it was in 

 vain that I searched their favourite spots; not a hint of a nest could 

 I find. At last I observed a pair, one sitting on the ground, the other 

 busying itself round about; I brought my field-glass to bear upon 

 the sitting bird and made straight for it. As I came near it rose, 

 hastily scraped some sand together, and flew off, uttering its usual 

 cry, but without any other signs of excitement. I was not diverted 

 from my purpose, but advanced carefully, keeping the exact spot 

 always in view. But even when I reached the place I could see no 

 nest, and it was not till I noticed a slight unevenness in the sand, and 

 dug carefully with my fingers, that I found what I sought, two eggs 

 most deceptively like the sand in their colour and markings. Had the 

 mother-bird been allowed more time than I gave her, it is not likely 

 that I should ever have noticed the slight unevenness in the sand. 



Even richer, if that be possible, than the fauna of the river, and 

 at any rate more diverse, is that to be found at the proper season 

 on the shores and surface of all the lakes and larger water- pools 

 which lie within the forest and are filled either by the spring rains 

 or by the full floods of the river. Surrounded by the forest, and 

 not unfrequently so thickly hedged round that one cannot reach 

 them without great difficulty, and more immediately fringed by a 

 scarcely less rich vegetation of canes and reed-thickets, where the 

 papyrus and the lotos still flourish, these rain-lakes, or Fulat as the 

 natives call them, afford most excellent resting-stations and breed- 

 ing-places for the most diverse kinds of beasts and birds. 



