PREFACE. 



/ T^HE journey, of which this little book forms a 

 -*- narrative, was undertaken for the sole purpose of 

 endeavouring to add to our knowledge of the birds and 

 beasts of the Soudan. Birds, being my special delight, 

 received most attention, and I make no excuse for the 

 amount of space occupied in discussing them in the 

 following pages. I have added in an appendix a full 

 list of the birds observed or collected, but for a complete 

 account of them I must refer the reader to the Ibis for 

 1901, pp. 237-278. Of the animals, owing to my 

 ignorance, I have very little to say. The late Dr. John 

 Anderson and Mr. W. E. de Winton, who had been 

 working at the . fauna of Egypt for a long time, were 

 very anxious that I should make a collection of the 

 mammals inhabiting the country about Khartoum. 

 Accordingly I provided myself with all the necessary 

 apparatus to capture and preserve animals, and hoping 

 to find many, I took an extra collector to help with 

 this part of the work. The results, however, were 



