ch. xv] CORMORANTS AND WAGTAILS 435 
wholly exceptional. He was taking a swim in a pool 
when the bird lit beside him. It paid no more heed to 
the naked white man than it would have paid to a 
hippo, and, although it would not allow itself to be 
actually touched, it merely moved a few feet out of his 
way when he approached it. Moreover, it seemed to 
be on the lookout for enemies in the air, not in the 
water. It was continually glancing upward, and, when 
a big hawk appeared, followed its movements with close 
attention. It stayed in and about the pool for many 
minutes before flying off. I suppose that certain eagles 
and hawks prey on cormorants ; but I should also be 
inclined to think that crocodiles at least occasionally 
prey on them. 
The most attractive birds we met in Middle Africa 
and along the Nile were the brave, cheery little wag¬ 
tails. They wear trim black-and-white suits, when on 
the ground they walk instead of hopping, they have a 
merry, pleasing song, and they are as confiding and 
fearless as they are pretty. The natives never molest 
them, for they figure to advantage in the folklore of the 
various tribes. They came round us at every halting- 
place, entering the rest-houses in Uganda and some¬ 
times even our tents, coming up within a few feet of us 
as we lay under trees, and boarding our boats on the 
Nile; and they would stroll about camp quite uncon¬ 
cernedly, in pairs, the male stopping every now and 
then to sing. Except the whisky jacks and Hudsonian 
chickadees of the North Woods, I never saw such tame 
little birds. 
At Gondokoro we met the boat which the Sirdar, 
Major-General Sir Reginald Wingate, had sent to take 
us down the Nile to Khartoum; for he, and all the 
Soudan officials—including especially Colonel Asser, 
