THE FORESTS OF KORDOFAN 



113 



(from Jutland), dotterels (Ckar. asiaticus\ spur- winged, 

 Kentish, and ring-plovers (^i. r . dubia\ stone-curlews, 

 and, alongside of these, rested . . . Curlew-sandpipers 

 and Little Stints from the Highest Arctic ! 



Close by, on the river beyond, a long narrow sand-bank 

 was crowded with crowned cranes, 500 yards of them, 

 all placidly asleep, though the shores of their exiguous 

 sanctuary were punctuated 

 on either side by lines 

 of fearsome crocodiles 

 strange such confidence 

 when we know that these 

 reptiles habitually prey on 

 similar water-fowl ? From 

 the stomach of a crocodile 

 we have extracted an entire 

 darter (P lotus], so un- 

 injured that it might have 

 made a "specimen." But 

 inter-relationship in wild- 

 life still remains largely a 

 closed book. Thus, in 

 broad daylight, a disturbed 

 lion will walk right past 

 grazing antelopes without 

 creating a symptom of alarm, or even, apparently, being 

 recognised by his normal (nocturnal) prey. 



In the intervening channel a great pink pelican was 

 teaching the piscatorial art to a half-grown youngster. 

 Slowly paddling up-stream, beak half-immersed, at brief 

 intervals she made a powerful forward lunge or, if side- 

 long, aided by a half-stroke of one wing. Invariably she 

 pouched prey. The chick watched and emulated ; yet, 

 industriously as he tried, never a victim could he secure, 

 and it amused to watch his petulance as, disappointed, he 

 demanded a dip into his mother's well-stored pouch. One 

 has read of other anglers content with a vicarious creel? 



H 



GOLIATH HERON. 

 Full-up" Sunset, Kaka, March I3th, 1919. 



