Diary of Birds seen on the White Nile.



219



we caught some coarse fish, which, unfortunately, were not

a very great success 011 the table. I saw some specimens of

the brilliantly coloured Green-backed Purple-coot (. Porphyria

smaragdonotns), also a beautiful Crested Kingfisher ( Corythornis

cyanostigmd). There were many bush fires in this part, some of

very great extent. This wasteful burning of the trees by the

natives is regrettable, as wood is not over plentiful, and a great

deal is required by the river steamers. We reached Bor at 7.30

p.m. and tied up for the night.


Feb. 17th. This morning we reached the wood station of

Kenissa at eleven o’clock, on leaving which we entered again

into the sudd. I saw little of interest, except a large flock of

Night Herons ( Nycticorax griseus) which were perched on some

low bushes having brilliant yellow flowers. These were growing

on one of the small islands in the sudd, with which one occasion¬

ally meets and on which one may sometimes see an isolated palm

tree. In the afternoon we passed the entrance to the lagoon on

which Shambd is situated. Towards evening a cool north wind

sprang up.


Feb. 18th. We passed the cutting into the Bahr el Zeraf,

down which we came on our journey south, at three a.111. this

morning, but, instead of turning into it, we continued our course

up the main stream. This was a dull and uninteresting day ;

hardly any birds were to be seen and only two hippopotami. A

high wind started blowing towards evening, but, in spite of it,

we still suffered from mosquitoes.


Feb. 19th. We passed through Take No shortly after

midnight, and at eight o’clock this morning we again saw firm

ground, with trees and villages. A terrific wind from the north

lashed the river into waves and caused our boat to roll con¬

siderably. At noon we wooded at Khor Attar, where there is a

Shilluk village. Here I obtained some spears made from the

horns of the Waterbuck straightened out. These are not very

common as most of the native tribes use iron spears made in

Omdurman. At 1.30 p.m. we arrived at the mouth of the Sobat

river. This tributary rises in the mountains of Abyssinia. The

colour of the water is light green, which contrasts with that of

the White Nile, which is brown. The line of confluence is very



