Oil some Birds of the White Nile. 315



NOTES ON SOME BIRDS OF THE WHITE NILE.


By Mrs. A. C. Charrington.


Leaving England on the 19th of last December, we went

by way of Cairo, Assuan, Wady Haifa, to Khartoum. There we

found a Government steamer, the “ Dal,” which was to start in a

few days for Gondokoro, the farthest navigable port on the

White Nile, and some 1,200 miles farther south.


In the Palace Gardens at Khartoum I made my first

acquaintance with the Whale-headed Stork (.Balczniceps rex) a

quaint bird with an extraordinary mouth which positively smiles

at times. The bird at the Palace has a Sudanese boy as

attendant, who feeds him with small fish, and if he does not

swallow them fast enough gently strokes down his neck with

anxious care ! The colour of this bird is a slate grey, as in a

Heron.


The “ Dal,” on which we started, January 15th, is the

same boat on which Lord Kitchener went to Fashoda during the

Colonel Marchand incident in 1898. In a barge alongside we

had goats for milk, poultry, and fourteen donkeys, the property

of Major Harrison, who was going shooting in the interior.


Two days south of Khartoum Ducks and Geese of many

kinds abounded, the latter mostly Spurwing (a). At Kawa

Major Harrison brought in a beautiful Roller with deep blue and

cobalt wings, soft blue grey head, and fawn back (p), also a

chestnut and black Whydah (e) with long hair-like tail-feathers

terminating in a spatule, also some small species of Hornbill.

Major Harrison was clever at skinning, and this gave me oppor¬

tunities of seeing many birds which would not have occurred

otherwise ; as he was collecting for a museum.


The banks were dotted with beautiful water birds:

Crowned Cranes (the latter very tame and strolling along in a

most dignified way), Demoiselle Cranes, large and small White

Herons, a Grey Heron (?), Buff-backed Heron, and dense flocks

of Spurwing or Egyptian Geese ; in places a Whistling Teal (d),

and a large brown and black duck (?) were in densely packed



(a). Plectopterus riipelli.

(d). Coracias gar ruins.



(c) . Steganura paradisea.


(d) . Dendrocygna viduata.



