ON THE BIRD-LIFE IN NORTHERN NIGERIA 39 



that the avi-fauna of Bornu and Lake Chad is identical 

 with that of the Sudan. This is what might have been 

 expected, for Bornu, Lake Chad and Kanem possess the 

 geographical features of the Sudan country — flat with 

 sandy undulations and covered with mimosa and gum 

 trees. 



Out of the many interesting species to be found in Bornu, 

 there are two rather remarkable ones — namely the cow- 

 bird [BupJiaga africana) and the Senegal black weaver-finch 

 {Textor senegalensis). Although the cow-bird — a species of 

 starling — is found over the whole of Africa with the exception 

 of the forest regions, it is of local distribution. In localities 

 where there are herds of cattle or game, these birds are 

 there to relieve the animals of ticks and lice, perching on 

 their backs and climbing up and down their flanks like Uttle 

 gymnasts. They have powerful, curved claws and tails 

 almost as strong as those of the woodpecker — which greatly 

 assist them in chmbing over the bodies of the cattle. 



I remember once seeing a bird clinging to the belly of a 

 stampeding cow and looking the whole time quite at ease. 



The black weaver-finch, which is about the size of a 

 blackbird, first came under my notice at a Fulani town, 

 called Goram — about two days' march to the east of Bauchi 

 — and after this in Bornu the nests of this species became 

 quite a feature in the landscape. It builds in colonies close 

 to native villages in the baobab and gum trees, the nests 

 often numbering as many as twenty in one tree. They are 

 very bulky in structure and are like those of magpies. I 

 have sometimes noticed several so close together one on the 

 top of the other that they resembled a bunch of burrs. During 



