PREFACE 
The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan has been under British 
administration upwards of twenty years ; yet during that 
period there has lacked any attempt to describe our 
great Dependency (in popular sense) from the standpoint 
of the Hunter-Naturalist. Sir Samuel Baker’s classic 
works of sixty years ago remain our only guides—and 
Baker professed no technical knowledge as a naturalist. 
My own ambition in essaying to fill the gap may be 
over-exalted; but that is no fatal fault. The work has 
suffered various drawbacks. First the interruption of 
War severely curtailed my original programme of explora¬ 
tion : then several of those with whom I was associated 
in the Sudan and upon whose assistance I was relying, 
have since made the Supreme Sacrifice for their country : 
while my two colleagues of 1913-14—Captain H. Lynes, 
C.B., C.M.G., and Mr Willoughby Lowe, field-naturalists 
of the first flight—are presently engaged on a joint expedi¬ 
tion in Darfur. Hence I have lost their aid in passing 
this book through the Press. On the other hand most 
gratefully do I acknowledge the generous help of Mr 
A. L. Butler, whose long residence in the Sudan and 
unrivalled acquaintance with its Fauna, great and small 
alike, place him in a unique position. That long experi¬ 
ence he has most liberally and ungrudgingly placed at 
my disposal, to the great advantage of this work. Sir 
Frederick Jackson, K.C.M.G., lately Governor of Uganda, 
has also most kindly revised several chapters while yet 
in manuscript. 
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