ON THE BIRD-LIFE IN NORTHERN NIGERIA 41 



capture the locusts from some neighbouring island with 

 flight slow and seldom higher than the reed-tops. 



All owls were looked upon by my Hausa followers as bad 

 ju-ju and though sometimes hard up for meat, nothing would 

 induce them to eat the bodies of those I had shot'and skinned. 



It was not unusual, when landing on an island, for us to 

 disturb from the long grass one of the largest of African 

 bustards [Otis denhami). This species and the smaller one, 

 the black-breasted bustard {Otis mdanogaster)] were also 

 fairly numerous on the rough grass land near the Lake, and 

 in my wanderings I often had the opportunity of observing 

 that the males of both these species keptr^apart from the 

 females. 



Another interesting bird I came across was the Egyptian 

 nightjar {Caprimulgus cegyptiacus), a rather satisfactory 

 discovery, for to increase the range of a well-known species 

 is, to my mind, often more interesting than making a new 

 ■one. 



The Egyptian goose {Chenalopex oegyptiacus) was also 

 "there, and we found many of its nests, while comb duck, 

 spur-winged geese and teal {Nettion capense) visited the 

 Lake at times. J\ 



No picture of the Lake would be complete without the 

 ■grey-backed gulls (Larus cirrhocephalus) which inhabit 

 nearly all the African lakes, though this is the first time 

 they have been recorded on Chad. 



They are the attendant spirits of every Buduma fishing- 

 station, and a day never passed without a flock of them 

 following our boats. The soft grey and white of their plumage 

 .struck a familiar note in harmony with the prevailing tones 



