BEYOND THE SUDD 
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feet behind stood half a dozen choristers, erect in white 
surplices, each tiny throat swelled with music. For a 
moment I took the visitors to be the common white 
wagtails (Motacilla alba) suddenly inspired with unwonted 
song. A second glance, however, showed that the 
choristers belonged to quite a different species, for they 
were white-winged wagtails (M. vidua), first cousins of the 
other cosmopolite, yet pure Ethiopians themselves, who 
never transgress the boundaries of Africa. Their one 
desideratum locally (besides a tropical climate) appears 
Asleep in Cane-Jungle. In act of “ Bubbling.” 
to be a rocky environment. In all the 1000 miles of Nile 
to which geology has denied that constituent, the white¬ 
winged wagtail is never seen . 1 The white wagtail, on the 
other hand, is ubiquitous whether on rock, grass-veld, or 
desert. But neither he nor any of his tribe (save the 
above) profess to sing; they do their best at a warble! 
By the riverside are various species of yellow wagtails, 
but these present quite too complex a racial problem for 
my definition. At a water-hole in the scrub I watched 
1 The white-winged wagtail (Motacilla vidua ) is partially dimorphic, 
some individuals having black flanks, which, in the majority, are pure white. 
One may notice this when only half a dozen are seen together. 
T 
