158 Mr. Richard Staples-Browne,


of which had been sufficiently enlarged by dredgers to admit of

the passage of our small boat, and re-enter the main stream of

the Bahr el Jabel near Shambe, and then continue to Rejaf, the

farthest point to which our boat could go owing to the shallow¬

ness of the river. Rejaf is a few miles south of Gondokoro, the

Ismaili'a of Sir Samuel Baker, which is the southernmost station

reached by the monthly mail service. Roughly speaking, Rejaf

is 1070 miles south of Khartum and 540 miles north of the Victoria

Nyanza. I had heard very glowing accounts of the numbers of

species of birds and animals that could be seen on such an

expedition, but on my return I had the satisfaction of feeling

that I had seen more, in the short time I was in the Sudan, than

the most enthusiastic traveller had led me to expect. Before

starting I paid some visits to the excellent collection of animals

in the Giza Zoological Gardens to acquaint myself with the forms

I might meet. Capt. Flower and Mr. Nicoll were exceedingly

kind in pointing out to me the rarer Soudanese species, and on

my return to Cairo Mr. Nicoll helped me to identify many of the

birds I had come across from the descriptions in my diary.


I made the journey from Cairo to Wady Haifa by river,

changing steamers at the first cataract. The birds of this part

of the river have been so often described that I can add nothing

to what has already been written. I was, however, very pleased

to see for the first time such beautiful forms as the Pale Crag

Swallow (Colile obsoleta) at Bedrechen, the White-lumped Chat

( Saxuola leucopygia) at Thebes, the little Green Bee-eater ( Merops

viridis) at Assiut, and the Black and White Kingfisher ( Ceryle

nidi's ) which is frequently met with on the river.


I arrived at Wady Haifa 011 January 26th and took the train

for Khartum. We were, however, considerably delayed in the

desert by a sand-storm, and consequently did not arrive until

the morning of the 28th. Some of the most noticeable birds in

Khartum are the Yellow Sparrow (Passer lutcus), and, of course,

the ever present Kite ( Milvus migrans ).


On the morning of February 1st I went on board the

“ Amara,” a small stern-wheeled steamer. We were a small party

of twelve. The steersman and crew were Arabs. The boat was

extremely comfortable, and the engineer, who as usual was a



