BEYOND^THE SUDD 



289 



feet behind stood half a dozen choristers, erect in white 

 surplices, each tiny throat swelled with music. For a 

 moment I took the visitors to be the common white 

 wagtails (Motacilla alba] suddenly inspired with unwonted 

 song. A second glance, however, showed that the 

 choristers belonged to quite a different species, for they 

 were white-winged wagtails (M. vidua\ first cousins of the 

 other cosmopolite, yet pure Ethiopians themselves, who 

 never transgress the boundaries of Africa. Their one 

 desideratum locally (besides a tropical climate) appears 



ASLEEP IN CANE-JUNGLE. 



IN ACT OF " BUBBLING." 



to be a rocky environment. In all the 1000 miles of Nile 

 to which geology has denied that constituent, the white- 

 winged wagtail is never seen. 1 The white wagtail, on the 

 other hand, is ubiquitous whether on rock, grass-veld, or 

 desert. But neither he nor any of his tribe (save the 

 above) profess to sing; they do their best at a warble! 

 By the riverside are various species of yellow wagtails, 

 but these present quite too complex a racial problem for 

 my definition. At a water-hole in the scrub I watched 



** 



1 The white-winged wagtail (Motacilla vtdua) is partially dimorphic, 

 some individuals having black flanks, which, in the majority, are pure white. 

 One may notice this when only half a dozen are seen together. 



