12 SAVAGE SUDAN 



as species and individuals) select the spring for that 

 purpose ; but a considerable proportion certainly nest in 

 autumn, while others possibly individually are quite 

 irregular, disregard seasons altogether, and nest when- 

 ever instinct so impels. It was the moulting-condition 

 of many birds shot in mid-winter (along with the case 

 of the geese just mentioned) that first gave a clue to 

 this amazing confusion of seasons. At that period 

 (December and January) birds should normally be in 

 their most perfect plumage: in Europe they all are; yet 

 in Sudan many were heavily in moult, some disreputably 

 ragged pointing to such birds having bred in autumn. 

 I find in my note-book this query : Do African birds, 

 like African savages, never possess a decent dress ? or 

 do they compromise with their torrid clime by wearing 

 but half the usual allowance of feathers ? 



THE SAVAGES OF SUDAN. The human race having 

 ever interested the author rather less than those of lower 

 order, I refrained in previous works from touching upon 

 the subject. To describe peoples whose language the 

 critic hardly knows or knows not at all seemed an 

 impertinence. So stark and savage, however, are the 

 aboriginal tribes of Sudan, so little elevated above the 

 "lower orders" aforesaid, that mere language matters 

 little. The main traits and character of these wild 

 children of Nature are at least as transparent as those 

 of beast and bird with which this book is chiefly 

 concerned. My own contact with the pure-bred savage 

 of the Sudan (and equally of Equatoria) leaves nothing 

 but pleasant memories and a confidence in their ultimate 

 development under British guidance and dominion ; also, 

 I may add, in their intrinsic value to us. Personally, 

 I liked these savages all ; because, though savage to the 

 core, they are true to Nature's type ; idle if you like, 

 but friendly, simple, and unsophisticated' though that 

 last epithet excludes neither cunning nor deceit. Im- 

 mensely tall and muscular typical athletes, trained to 



