1903.] HIS JOURNEY TO UGANDA. 5 
bicycle on for an hour, and then sit down in one of these shady 
spots, and watch the Mouse-birds hanging like acrobats in attitudes 
most quaint, and Sun-birds darting in ‘and out of the great red 
blossoms of the Spathodea, while often °a noisy flock of “Pri ionops 
plumatus passed hurriedly along. In the more open parts I often 
saw several pairs of Ground Hornbills, and each time one had a blue 
throat, the other a red one. I can but think that this is a sexual 
character, though which is the female and which is the male 
I was unable to determine. Other birds seen were Pawocephalus 
meyert, a species of Macronyx, Irrisor erythrorhynchus, Hirundo 
rustica, and the handsome Snipe Rhynchwa capensis. 
A very amusing bird that I watched was Hrythropygia ruficauda, 
which is most assiduous in its courting of the female, spreading 
its tail before her like a fan. 
In the more shady parts one might often see the butterflies, as 
I remember seeing them in the forests of Paraguay, covering the 
ground with large patches of colour, in flocks according to their 
species. 
Shortly before reaching Hoima the river Kafu is crossed ; 
here a network of papyrus-swamps with good causeways over 
them abound in duck, geese, and kingfishers of various kinds. 
Then, winding upwards, a high point is “reached from which the 
village of Hoima i is seen, and in the very far distance one can 
make out the Blue Mountains on the other side of Lake Albert. 
At this high point I saw a charming little Widow-bird (Viduwa 
hypocherina). Lions round this part are plentiful and somewhat 
dangerous, as they usually are in countries where game is not 
abundant. At Hoima I heard that several natives had recently 
been carried off by the Lions. 
From here, two days’ march through the so-called Budonga 
Forest brings one to the shores of Lake Albert. This Budonga 
Forest is nothing more than rather heavily-wooded scrub. It is 
true that in the ravines and gorges there are strips of real forest, 
but it is not in any way comparable with the real forest of the 
tropics, where the sky can scarcely be seen. 
This Budonga woodland teems with herds of Elephant—I 
myself caleulated that there were over 200 in one herd which 
we came across. Some of the males had enormous tusks, and 
these big fellows seem to keep slightly aloof from the rest of the 
herd. I knew that we were quite close to this herd, as there were 
great roadways through the jungle with quite fresh, smoking 
dung; and here J first noticed what struck me many times 
subsequently, that when elephant-dung falls on a pathway or 
clearing, there within half an hour you will constantly find, 
heaped up all round the dung, the earth-workings of a shrew or 
mole. What is it the shrew seeks in the dung? Is it the fly- 
larve that have been blown upon the dung, or is it the dung 
itself? Frequently elephants in these parts appear of a bright 
red colour, having covered their bodies with the dust of crushed- 
up termite hills. 
