52 



SAVAGE SUDAN 



is the flamingo. Seeing that it abounds both in Egypt 

 and in Equatoria, one would naturally expect it in so 

 congenial a resort as White Nile ; yet in six voyages up 

 and down that waterway we never saw but a few odd 

 stragglers save once, on March i6th, 1919, when we 

 passed a pack of eighty together : nor have we ever 

 noticed an avocet on White Nile. 



Within the space of a chapter scarcely can the skeleton 



of such a subject be 

 framed. Already upon 

 the geese and ducks 

 alone its allotted limits 

 are exhausted and no 

 room remains for the 

 rest that is for all that 

 "Ethiopian" crowd 

 that is found, even here, 

 associated with our 

 true wildfowl, including 

 cranes and strange 

 stork-like forms, ibises, 

 huge herons, egrets, 

 darters, and a hetero- 

 geneous multitude be- 

 side. The main habitat 

 of these " Ethiopians " 



lies further south. Hence their omission here is not 

 altogether inappropriate, since the "desert-stretch" is 

 essentially characterised by what I call "true wildfowl"; 

 while its neglected denizens will receive full treatment 

 later in the chapters which treat of the more tropical 

 regions wherein they become more and more conspicuous. 

 It is in mid- winter that the wildfowl described are seen 

 to best advantage. As spring advances they gradually 

 withdraw northwards and their massed formations daily 

 decrease. At that season (March- April), as the volume 

 of Nile falls lower and lower, the Arabs move down into 



GOLIATH HERON Weight 13 lb. 



