VOYAGE UP WHITE NILE 45 



takes place. That is not surprising 1 seeing" that on both 

 sides the Nile is flanked by barren desert. One is apt 

 to wonder how such masses of wildfowl can find a daily 

 subsistence at all ; but the problem is solved by watching 

 them attentively. There, for example, in midstream, 

 swim a thousand pintail with two fathoms' water beneath 

 them. Though the sun is well up, the binoculars show 

 that half the flotilla is "up-ended," the rest tugging and 

 guzzling. Clearly they are all a-feed on drift-weed and 



CROWNED CRANES Flighting. 



floatage. On examining the mud-charged waters (and 

 also the crops of ducks shot), both will be found full of 

 drift-grass and water- weed. The Nile itself, in short, is 

 surcharged with floating vegetation and thus brings to 

 the ducks their daily bread. Geese have yet another 

 resource, for on the grassy islands their knife-edged 

 mandibles can graze where a low growth is too short to 

 be cropped by ducks. 



When one of these bigger islands, say a mile or two 

 long, is seen to be fairly stocked with geese all scattered 

 about, feeding then some exciting sport can be enjoyed 



