PREFACE 



THE Anglo-Egyptian Sudan has been under British 

 administration upwards of twenty years ; yet during that 

 period there has lacked any attempt to describe our 

 great Dependency (in popular sense) from the standpoint 

 of the Hunter-Naturalist. Sir Samuel Baker's classic 

 works of sixty years ago remain our only guides and 

 Baker professed no technical knowledge as a naturalist. 



My own ambition in essaying to fill the gap may be 

 over-exalted ; but that is no fatal fault. The work has 

 suffered various drawbacks. First the interruption of 

 War severely curtailed my original programme of explora- 

 tion : then several of those with whom I was associated 

 in the Sudan and upon whose assistance I was relying, 

 have since made the Supreme Sacrifice for their country : 

 while my two colleagues of 1913-14 Captain H. Lynes, 

 C.B., C.M.G., and Mr Willoughby Lowe, field-naturalists 

 of the first flight are presently engaged on a joint expedi- 

 tion in Darfur. Hence I have lost their aid in passing 

 this book through the Press. On the other hand most 

 gratefully do I acknowledge the generous help of Mr 

 A. L. Butler, whose long residence in the Sudan and 

 unrivalled acquaintance with its Fauna, great and small 

 alike, place him in a unique position. That long experi- 

 ence he has most liberally and ungrudgingly placed at 

 my disposal, to the great advantage of this work. Sir 

 Frederick Jackson, K.C.M.G., lately Governor of Uganda, 

 has also most kindly revised several chapters while yet 

 in manuscript. 



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