Balseniceps rex on Lake Victoria. 335 
the shores of the Victoria Nyanza, and why the bird should 
not extend its area (which at present includes Lake Albert) 
to the Albert Edward and the waters of the Upper Congo. 
I myself certainly believe that I saw a Balceniceps in 1882 
on the swamps of the Upper Cunene River, in about 15° south 
latitude, at the back of Portuguese Angola. Sir H. M. 
Stanley was wont to assert that he had seen the bird on the 
extreme Upper Congo. But neither he nor I have been 
able to advance any further proofs in support of our belief. 
I was much impressed by the vast numbers of water-fowl 
which displayed themselves on the northern and eastern 
shores of Lake Albert Edward^ where from a picturesque 
point of view the display of birds was magnificent ; but I 
never noticed amongst the many kinds of waders anything 
like Balceniceps rex, nor could the natives inform me that 
it was seen there. It is undoubtedly common at the back of 
Busoga on the great swamps and marshy lakes which are 
attached to the system of the Victoria Nile. Balceniceps 
is often seen at the north end of Lake Albert, and thence 
north-west to within a hundred miles or so of Khartum. 
Curiously enough, none of the Europeans residing in the 
Uganda Protectorate, missionaries or officials, had ever 
noticed this remarkable bird on the shores of the Victoria 
Nyanza before Mr. Doggett shot the first specimen ; and this 
fact is the more singular when we remember what an ardent 
and all-searching collector is Mr. F. J. Jacksou, C.B., who 
has done so much to enrich our National Collection. Never- 
theless this failure to distinguish Balceniceps must have been 
due to a pure oversight, and not, as some people have argued, 
to the fact that the bird had only recently extended its range 
to the shores of the Victoria Nyanza from the Upper Nile. 
That this is not the explanation may be shown from the facts 
that the bird has a well-known name — " Bulue '^ — in the 
Luganda tongue, and that the natives of Uganda tell me 
that it was always known to their forefathers and was a 
familiar object in the marshes. The natives differ somewhat 
in their accounts as to its breeding-habits, but are agreed 
for the most part that it makes an untidy unwieldy nest on 
