DR. EMIL HOLUB. 193 



ing. This marsh, about goo yards in diameter, with a deep 

 rocky cavern in its centre, is worthy of the admiration of 

 mankind ; it is a place offering any amount of important 

 observations upon bird-life to every lover of natural science, 

 but it is especially attractive to an ornithologist who 

 wishes to learn and to study, and who does not come 

 to destroy birds and thus make his visit a mercenary 

 matter. 



The marsh is inhabited by numerous birds. Many species 

 of singers and Finches, many more of wading and swimming 

 birds, nest among the tall reeds, making this only marshy 

 thicket in the vast plain their home for the whole year 

 through ; but there are others, like the European Swallow, 

 different kinds of Herons, Storks, Cranes, and other GrallcB, 

 Plectropterus gambensis and the Egyptian Goose {Chenalopex 

 (Bgyptiacus), which pour in toward the night only, selecting 

 this lonely spot to be their dormitory for the few hours up 

 to the dawning day. 



I consider the few days which I spent on the banks of 

 this pool as some of the happiest ones which I experienced 

 during my first African exploring trip of seven years' 

 duration ; but one thing w^hich I do deplore is that, having 

 no boat, I was not able to explore the centre of the dark 

 waters and those many small islands, formed of floating 

 rushes and broken-down reeds, which are the real nesting- 

 places of numerous pairs of Fuliciila, and several species 

 of Anas, Dendrocygna and Querquedula. 



It is just an hour before sunset. In the reeds below, the 

 great noise produced by so many feathered inhabitants keeps 

 on, as during the whole day. Conspicuous more than others 

 are the hundreds of pairs of bright red Finches {Pyronie- 

 lana sundevalli) watching their nests, and having used two 

 or three close reeds as pillars for each of them ; different 

 species of yellow-tinted Weavers {Ploceus and Hypha?itornis) 

 are the next ones audible with their voices ; in which chorus 

 a few troops of the beautiful Kafir Finches, the nicest South 

 13 



