THE PRIMEVAL EORESTS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 227 



beautiful, contrasting wonderfully with the light gray cranes, and 

 decorating the whole neighbourhood. Splendid giant or saddle-billed 

 storks step proudly along the shores; ugly, but curiously-formed 

 marabous walk up and down with an air of dignity; glittering, open- 

 bill storks stand in large companies; giant and great white herons 

 wade about in search of fish; and everywhere standing and lying, 

 swimming and diving, grazing and grubbing, cackling and chatter- 

 ing are thousands of Spur-winged, Egyptian, and other geese, 

 widow and pintail ducks, African darters, ibises, curlews, sandpipers, 

 dunlins, redshanks, and many more, a motley throng which 

 decorates the stream even more than the tantalus ibises. But, in 

 addition to all those mentioned, some of whom are constantly 

 coming and going, there fly terns and gulls, sand-martins and bee- 

 eaters, while splendid sea-eagles wheel in circles high up in the air. 

 There are some members of this bird-fauna, so rich in every 

 respect, who have to wait till the water is at its lowest before they 

 can begin to brood, for, when the river is full, they are quite unable 

 to find such nesting-places as they desire. Among these is a running 

 bird, prettily and gaily coloured, clever and vivacious by nature, 

 which was well known to the ancients as the Crocodile-bird or the 

 Trochilus of Herodotus. Of it the old historian relates, as Pliny 

 repeats on his authority, that it lives in true friendship with the 

 crocodile. And this old story is no fable, as one might be inclined 

 to suppose, but is based on solid facts, which I have myself been 

 able to verify .^^ The crocodile-bird, whose image is so often repre- 

 sented on the ancient Egyptian monuments, and stands for U in the 

 hieroglyphic alphabet, occurs in Egypt and Nubia, but nowadays 

 it seems to be only in the Soudan that it discharges, on the croco- 

 dile's behalf, those sentinel duties for which it was famous among 

 the ancient peoples. But the service it renders is not to the croco- 

 dile alone, but to all other creatures who are willing to take advan- 

 tage of its watchfulness. Observant, inquisitive, excitable, clamor- 

 ous, and gifted with a far-reaching voice, it is well fitted to serve 

 as watchman to all less careful creatures. No approach, whether of 

 beast of prey or of man, escapes its suspicious observation; every 

 sailing-boat or rowing-boat on the river attracts its attention; and 



