BEYOND THE SUDD 285 



have a whole army-corps of our British swallows. On 

 one such tree, in the midst of the medley, heedless and 

 unheeded, sat a great white-headed eagle ; and it is 

 worth note that on the return voyage the same trees 

 were still occupied by the identical throngs, including 

 the eagle. 



Other birds whose brilliance here leaps to the eye 

 are the azure-blue rollers, malachite kingfishers, and, 

 possibly, golden orioles ; but with them the beauty- 

 list is exhausted. Now since bee-eaters, rollers, golden 

 orioles, and kingfishers are all common to Europe and 

 even to England it follows that the Tropic possesses 



HEAD OF GREY HORNBILL {Lophoceros nasutus). 

 Shot at Gondokoro, February 1 3th, 1913. 



no outstanding pre-eminence in bird-beauty. The differ- 

 ence lies in the fact that, while with us such birds are 

 relatively scarce, here in Africa they abound. 1 



Both species of Sudan hornbills inhabit these forests, 

 the red-billed and the mottled grey hornbill {Lophoceros 

 nasutus}, the latter of which I chanced not to have seen 



1 There are, of course, many other birds showing brilliant hues ; for 

 instance, the fire-finches, pytelias, cordonbleu and other waxbills (Estrtlda), 

 and some of the barbels occur to one off-hand. But these do not exceed 

 in beauty our own familiar robins, whinchats, and redstarts, blue tits, 

 bullfinches, and chaffinches. Then there are the tiny sunbirds, some 

 of which boast a lustrous irradiance that we can never match at home. 

 The abounding dhurra-finch also in summer assumes a gorgeous crimson- 

 velvet livery ; but in winter (when the tourist sees him, and to which 

 season this note refers) is as plain as a London hen-sparrow ! Perhaps 

 the crimson-breasted shrike (Laniarius erythrogaster) should have been 

 included in the beauty-list. I recollect my first encounter. Something 

 like a tongue of flame flashed through the bush. Such was the intense 

 keenness to possess so wondrous an object that I missed two sitting shots ! 



