ON THE BIRD-LIFE IN NORTHERN NIGERIA 41 



capture the locusts from some neighbouring island with 

 flight slow and seldom higher than the reed-tops. 



All owls were looked upon by my Hausa followers as bad 

 ju-ju and though sometimes hard up for meat, nothing would 

 induce them to eat the bodies of those I had shot and skinned. 



It was not unusual, when landing on an island, for us to 

 disturb from the long grass one of the largest of African 

 bustards [Otis denhami). This species and the smaller one, 

 the black-breasted bustard {Otis melanogasterY, were also 

 fairly numerous on the rough grass land near the Lake, and 

 in my wanderings I often had the opportunity of observing 

 that the males of both these species kept apart from the 

 females. 



Another interesting bird I came across was the Egyptian 

 nightjar {Caprimulgus cegyptiacus), a rather satisfactory 

 discovery, for to increase the range of a well-known species 

 is, to my mind, often more interesting than making a new 

 one. 



The Egyptian goose [Chenalopex cegyptiacus) was also 

 there, and we found many of its nests, while comb duck, 

 spur- winged geese and teal {Xettion capense) visited the 

 Lake at times. '] 



No picture of the Lake would be complete without the 

 grey-backed gulls {Larus cirrhocephalus) which inhabit 

 nearly all the African lakes, though this is the first time 

 they have been recorded on Chad. 



They are the attendant spirits of every Buduma fishing- 

 station, and a day never passed without a flock of them 

 following our boats. The soft grey and white of their plumage 

 .struck a familiar note in harmony with the prevailing tones 



