334 Sir H. Johnston on the Occurrence of 
XX. — On the Oc««rr/?wce o/Balfeniceps rex on Lake Victoria. 
By Sir Harry Johnston, K.C.B., G.C.M.G., F.Z.S. 
When I first reached the shores of the Victoria Nyanza 
in the late autumn of 1899, I was informed by Mr. Hobley, 
then Collector for the Elgon District, who was residing on the 
shores of Kavirondo Bay, that the Shoe-bill or Whale-headed 
Stork was occasionally seen on the north-eastern shores of 
the Victoria Nyanza. I believe that the same information 
was given to me by other Europeans also. When I reached 
the country of Uganda proper, I questioned Mr. F. J. 
Jackson on the subject, but he said that he had never heard of 
the bird being found anywhere nearer than the Nile marshes 
about Lake Kioga. Just about this time we had both been told 
of the BaJanicepshdiVm^ been shot on the Victoria Nile near 
Lake Kioga by Captain Ponsonby, of the Uganda Rifles. 
One Sunday in the month of March, 1900, my collector, 
Doggett, and my brother, Mr. Alexander Johnston, went 
out in the afternoon for an excursion in my large Uganda 
canoe. In the marshes about five miles to the west of the 
Entebbe Peninsula they saw a coaple of Whale-headed 
Storks, one of which Doggett succeeded in shooting. Sub- 
sequently he returned to the same locality — the marshy 
coast-line of the Lake to the west of the Entebbe peninsula — 
and shot two more specimens. I also permitted two more of 
these birds to be killed by Captain Rattray and Mr. Guy Eden 
respectively. Captain Battray^s bird was given by him to 
Mr. F. J. Jackson for his collection. When these specimens 
had been procured I placed Balceniceps on the Protected List. 
I have subsequently heard of the bird having been seen by 
credible witnesses on the west coast of the Victoria Nyanza as 
far south as the Kagera River. A German officer also told me 
that it was met with on the German coast, just south of 
the Kagera, but he did not think that it extended its 
range so far as the south coast of the Victoria Lake. On 
the east coast it seems to be found as far south as the vicinity 
of Kavirondo Bay. Personally, I confess that it is a little 
difficult to understand why its range should not include all 
