THE FORESTS OF KORDOFAN 
117 
found, was a purple heron, and on two other occasions 
(in 1919) observed these eagles in furious pursuit of 
similar prey ; each of these, however, escaped by plunging 
headlong into the papyrus-jungle beneath. The half-dry 
khor on which I had shot the Bishop-stork swarmed 
with all that infinite variety of weird water-fowl already 
mentioned—perhaps with wearisome iteration—so I will 
only name one. On an oozy corner a hammerhead 
(Scopus umbrettd) was probing about. He rose wild, but 
went away with tell-tale wavering flight which culminated 
in a regular “tower,” gradually ascending till he turned 
over, dead. His gullet was crammed with strange 
amphibians— nescio quo's . 
This khor gradually led inland, into a region of open 
forest abounding in tropical types of bird-life to the full as 
strange and unknown as had been those of the marsh 
and riverside. There were “Ethiopian” woodpeckers 
and nightjars each in sundry forms ; barbets and babblers, 
colies and glossy starlings (Lamprocolius) iridescent in 
purple sheen, shrikes and weaver-finches—both these latter 
in bewildering variety and of a dozen different genera; 
crombecs ( Sylviello ), like minature nuthatches, and bee- 
eaters in emerald droves, with gem-like sunbirds. Gor¬ 
geous rollers perched on topmost sprays ; quaint hornbills 
(.Lophoceros erythrorhynchus) fed actively on the ground, 
running among the grass and snapping up beetles, centi¬ 
pedes, scorpions, etc., sometimes half-opening a wing to 
get an extra turn of speed. They also went for grass¬ 
hoppers, springing up to snatch big ones off twigs high 
above their heads. There were hoopoes and wood- 
hoopoes—the latter in two types, Irrisor and Scoptelus. 
Irrisor I described in On Safari (p. 243) and sketched 
his woodpecker - like style of scaling the rough bark. 
Scoptelus is hardly so smart. He often drops a clean 
foot or two, clutching a fresh foothold as he falls, then 
reascending rather by flapping than by honest climbing-— 
both these scansorial tricks being precisely similar to 
