124 
SAVAGE SUDAN 
We were told that lions had a strong - haunt in these 
rocks, but neither saw nor heard them. 
The most interesting birds here were the rare and 
beautiful cinnamon-coloured Alopex kestrels, which preyed 
on the abounding lizards; a big pale-grey eagle-owl 
( Bubo lactens ), here a cave-dweller, but which we found 
later, at Jebel Zeraf, nesting in a tree. Broad-winged 
ravens ( Corvus affinis ), not seen elsewhere till we reached 
Erkowit by the Red Sea littoral; blue rock-thrushes, 
helmet-shrikes ( Prionops ), glossy starlings of a fresh 
species with chestnut breasts ( Lamprocolius chalybczus). 
Nasutus hornbill, blue rock-doves, with swarms of guinea- 
fowl and francolins. Besides these we shot tawny and 
crested eagles, white-headed vulture, a peregrine falcon, 
lesser kestrels ( Falco cenchris ) identical with Spanish 
examples, and I reck not what besides . 1 
One grateful word in memory of Achmet, my little 
Arab auxiliary. He had joined unbidden, entering 
keenly into the joys of hyrax-hunting; but from the start 
had constituted himself a regular guardian of my personal 
well-being. After losing the wounded leopard in the 
dark, he spontaneously took my gun and led me home¬ 
wards with almost filial attention—-taking my hand at 
awkward passes, breaking down each menacing thorn, and 
even stooping to throw aside any obstructive stone! 
Good luck to you, Achmet! Kulu sauna ente taibe , 
Salaam aleikum ( = For all your years may you be happy.) 
1 Apropos of kestrels—two species of which are named in the last 
paragraph (besides our British kestrel, which spreads right through the 
Sudan)—it may here be convenient to add that, in 1919, a fourth and unex¬ 
pected form came under observation. This was the scarce Falco ardesiacus. 
On 26th February, my brother J. and I were revelling in one of those 
recurrent scenes in massed bird-life (near Renk), when this stranger 
appeared. Though totally unknown, and camouflaged in smoke-grey, yet its 
kestrel-flight left no doubt as to generic affinities. Duty, doubtless, 
demanded that the “ specimen 55 be secured ; but so reluctant was I to 
dissolve the wondrous spectacle enacting before our eyes, that Ardesiacus 
was allowed to depart in peace, and readers must accept my identification 
for what it may be worth. 
