52 
SAVAGE SUDAN 
is the flamingo. Seeing that it abounds both in Egypt 
and in Equatoria, one would naturally expect it in so 
congenial a resort as White Nile; yet in six voyages up 
and down that waterway we never saw but a few odd 
stragglers—save once, on March 16th, 1919, when we 
passed a pack of eighty together: nor have we ever 
noticed an avocet on White Nile. 
Within the space of a chapter scarcely can the skeleton 
of such a subject be 
framed. Already upon 
the geese and ducks 
alone its allotted limits 
are exhausted and no 
room remains for the 
rest—-that is for all that 
“ Ethiopian ” crowd 
that is found, even here, 
associated with our 
true wildfowl, including 
cranes and strange 
stork-like forms, ibises, 
huge herons, egrets, 
darters, and a hetero¬ 
geneous multitude be¬ 
side. The main habitat 
of these “ Ethiopians ” 
lies further south. Hence their omission here is not 
altogether inappropriate, since the “desert-stretch” is 
essentially characterised by what I call “true wildfowl”; 
while its neglected denizens will receive full treatment 
later in the chapters which treat of the more tropical 
regions wherein they become more and more conspicuous. 
It is in mid-winter that the wildfowl described are seen 
to best advantage. As spring advances they gradually 
withdraw northwards and their massed formations daily 
decrease. At that season (March-April), as the volume 
of Nile falls lower and lower, the Arabs move down into 
Goliath Heron—W eight 13 lb. 
