BEYOND THE SUDD 
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have a whole army-corps of our British swallows. On 
one such tree, in the midst of the medley, heedless and 
unheeded, sat a great white-headed eagle; and it is 
worth note that on the return voyage the same trees 
were still occupied by the identical throngs, including 
the eagle. 
Other birds whose brilliance here leaps to the eye 
are the azure-blue rollers, malachite kingfishers, and, 
possibly, golden orioles; but with them the beauty- 
list is exhausted. Now since bee-eaters, rollers, golden 
orioles, and kingfishers are all common to Europe—and 
even to England—it follows that the Tropic possesses 
Head of Grey Hornbill (.Lophoceros nasutus ). 
Shot at Gondokoro, February 13th, 1913. 
no outstanding pre-eminence in bird-beauty. The differ¬ 
ence lies in the fact that, while with us such birds are 
relatively scarce, here in Africa they abound . 1 
Both species of Sudan hornbills inhabit these forests, 
the red-billed and the mottled grey hornbill (.Lophoceros 
nasutus), the latter of which I chanced not to have seen 
1 There are, of course, many other birds showing brilliant hues ; for 
instance, the fire-finches, pytelias, cordonbleu and other waxbills (. Estrilda ), 
and some of the barbets occur to one offi-hand. But these do not exceed 
in beauty our own familiar robins, whinchats, and redstarts, blue tits, 
bullfinches, and chaffinches. Then there are the tiny sunbirds, some 
of which boast a lustrous irradiance that we can never match at home. 
The abounding dhurra-finch also in summer assumes a gorgeous crimson- 
velvet livery ; but in winter (when the tourist sees him, and to which 
season this note refers) is as plain as a London hen-sparrow! Perhaps 
the crimson-breasted shrike (. La?iiarius erythrogaster ) should have been 
included in the beauty-list. I recollect my first encounter. Something 
like a tongue of flame flashed through the bush. Such was the intense 
keenness to possess so wondrous an object that I missed two sitting shots ! 
