378 SAVAGE SUDAN 



but obviously there exists no certainty whatever, far less 

 proof. At best, such method is but an approximation 

 to correctness; and "approximation," as I have already 

 defined it, is not strictly science, but speculation. Dried 

 skins alone each rigid as an old boot afford no suffi- 

 cient criterion. In my humble view, until the eagles 

 or vultures or any other group whatever have been 

 closely studied in life by competent field-naturalist, any 

 hard-and-fast definition of their status is not only pre- 

 mature but mischievous. 



Eagles, of course equally with my other favourites, 

 the wildfowl ever present the most strenuous opposition 

 to being systematically " studied in life." That, however, 

 is no sort of excuse for trespassing beyond the bounds 

 of ascertained facts ; and, until their life-histories have 

 been s~b investigated, I question the value of antecedent 

 classification. Much water will flow down Nile ere we 

 shall be able specifically to diagnose these Sudan eagles, 

 and many other difficult genera, whether in the Sudan or 

 elsewhere. 



Another magnificent Raptorial whose existence we 

 had hardly suspected in the Sudan the lammergeyer 

 came gliding along below the crests of these hills, always 

 holding a course parallel with their contour, and never 

 an effort of those mighty wings to be detected from the 

 bird's first appearance a mile ahead till it vanished behind 

 some distant shoulder far behind truly a striking object- 

 lesson in the powers of aviation. The laws of gravity 

 do not count. 



By ill-chance the lammergeyer never passed within 

 range of our prepared posts ; and such opportunities as it 

 did vouchsafe caught the hapless hunter unawares and 

 totally unarmed for such heavy game for to tackle the 

 great bearded apparition with a -410 would be the 

 equivalent of a torpedo-boat challenging a super- 

 dreadnought. Though failing to bring home a specimen, 

 we had opportunity to notice that its underside was 



