296 
SAVAGE SUDAN 
view behind its fringing- forest, than there occurred two 
charming episodes in bird-life. The river here is walled-in 
between precipitous grey banks, all riddled and perforated 
by the nesting tunnels of bee-eaters — the gorgeous 
crimson bee-eater (Merofis nubicus) already described— 
thousands of which exquisites were now clinging upright 
on the surface of their mural stronghold. The sun was 
setting and, in the lurid light, the whole cliff-face appeared 
aflame with the masses of these encarmined creatures— 
here in groups, there in dense crimson patches—their 
radiance intensified, aye, glorified by the horizontal rays 
of a setting sun! Even our stolid Arab crew gazed in 
wonderment; but such effects no words may convey. 
The second scene followed fast. The sun had already 
set : bird-life had vanished, but flickering bats and 
nightjars marked the nightfall; then suddenly, at this 
unwonted hour, occurred a new irruption of bee-eaters. 
By hundreds they hawked low on the surface of the river. 
The incident lasted two minutes and ended as abruptly 
as it began. Normally bee-eaters (with all other 
diurnals) close down for the day before sunset; to-night 
a “hatch” of some aquatic insect had induced a brief 
spell of “overtime .” 1 
Next morning, March 9th (1919), afforded an observa¬ 
tion in the processes of migration. When approaching 
Malek (latitude 6° North), we descried ahead an assem¬ 
blage of storks, composed of equal numbers of the 
openbill and of Abdim’s stork, massed together on 
a sandy foreshore. The openbills (being residents) sat 
quiescent while we passed by ; but their companions— 
already infected with a north-bound instinct—took wing 
while yet afar and, soaring heavenwards in great spirals, 
soon attained a vertical altitude (finally beyond sight), 
whence, presumably, they could espy landmarks of their 
1 A bright moonlight night, or even starlight, will nevertheless tempt 
bee-eaters out on nocturnal adventure, and one hears their characteristic 
notes as they circle high up in the viewless vault above. 
