150 EGYPTIAN BIRDS 
swampy ground, or short grass flooded with an 
inch or two of water, inside the fringe of papyrus, 
or “um suf” sudd which separates the channel of 
the Bahr-el-Ghazal from the plains. I never saw 
the bird actually wading in water. Its food 
consists principally of Polypterus' senegalus, which 
wanders a great deal into flooded grass-land. 
Sometimes the bird will perch on the top of a tree, 
but trees are scarce in its haunts. Its flight is 
heavy, but powerful; the neck is drawn back like 
a Heron’s. “It seems to be rather a quarrelsome 
bird; on its first arrival at Khartoum, it seized 
a fox terrier which approached it so sharply that 
the dog fairly yelled.” Some of its habits are as 
peculiar as its appearance, for, later on, Mr. Butler 
tells us, “They have a curious trick of repeatedly 
bringing up their food before finally swallowing it. 
This often results in the disgorged fishes being 
snatched up by Kites”; and every visitor to the 
Giza Gardens must have noticed its curious habit 
of rattling its bill as it alternately lifts and lowers 
its head as a sort of welcome to its keeper. When 
it stands thus with its head lowered, its bill clatter- 
ing, and its neck slightly swollen and held straight 
as a stick, it is about the most curious-looking 
bird possible. At the date of writing, I believe 
