THE FORESTS OF KORDOFAN 117 



found, was a purple heron, and on two other occasions 

 (in 1919) observed these eagles in furious pursuit of 

 similar prey ; each of these, however, escaped by plunging 

 headlong into the papyrus-jungle beneath. The half-dry 

 khor on which I had Shot the Bishop-stork swarmed 

 with all that infinite variety of weird water-fowl already 

 mentioned perhaps with wearisome iteration so I will 

 only name one. On an oozy corner a hammerhead 

 (Scopus umbrella] was probing about. He rose wild, but 

 went away with tell-tale wavering flight which culminated 

 in a regular "tower," gradually ascending till he turned 

 over, dead. His gullet was crammed with strange 

 amphibians nescio quos. 



This khor gradually led inland, into a region of open 

 forest abounding in tropical types of bird-life to the full as 

 strange and unknown as had been those of the marsh 

 and riverside. There were "Ethiopian" woodpeckers 

 and nightjars each in sundry forms ; barbets and babblers, 

 colies and glossy starlings (Lamprocolius] iridescent in 

 purple sheen, shrikes and weaver-finches both these latter 

 in bewildering variety and of a dozen different genera ; 

 crombecs (Syluiella), like minature nuthatches, and bee- 

 eaters in emerald droves, with gem-like sunbirds. Gor- 

 geous rollers perched on topmost sprays ; quaint hornbills 

 (Lophoceros erylhrorhynchus] fed actively on the ground, 

 running among the grass and snapping up beetles, centi- 

 pedes, scorpions, etc., sometimes half-opening a wing to 

 get an extra turn of speed. They also went for grass- 

 hoppers, springing up to snatch big ones off twigs high 

 above their heads. There were hoopoes and wood- 

 hoopoes the latter in two types, Irrisor and Scoptelus. 

 Irrisor I described in On Safari (p. 243) and sketched 

 his woodpecker - like style of scaling the rough bark. 

 Scoptelus is hardly so smart. He often drops a clean 

 foot or two, clutchingf a fresh foothold as he falls, then 

 reascending rather by flapping than by honest climbing 

 both these scansorial tricks being precisely similar to 



