BLUE NILE AND D1NDER RIVER 
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booted eagles [Aguild pennata), a species not previously- 
recorded in modern Sudan though familiar to me in Spain. 
Both these eagles (now in the Khartoum Museum) were 
in the dark phase of plumage—that is, their undersides 
were deep chocolate-brown—for this species is guilty of 
a colour-dimorphism. Later, near Singa, I recognised 
one of the light-breasted type; so that both forms occur 
in the Sudan. 
[One morning as dawn broke a violent cachinnation of many 
guinea-fowl led me to go and see what the row was all about. 
Perched in double and triple tiers around the clay ridges 
of a sort of “ wash-out ” facing the river, were assembled 
half the “poultry” of the parish—their long necks on full stretch 
and all vehemently protesting against something. By advancing 
in flank, I perceived the cause of the uproar to be a big spotted 
hyena, with half-grown cub, drinking at the precise spot whereat 
the “ guineas ” were wont to water. That morning I flushed two 
tiny button-quails and shot a fledgling bush-shrike or bru-bru 
(Nilaus afer)~di little index serving to show that that species 
must nest in November. My morning’s bag further included 
a paradise whydah-finch ( Steganura paradised ), no bigger than 
a sparrow, but with a tail two feet long ! a woodchat shrike, 
also two African white-winged tits (. Parus leucomelas ), and a 
black bush-robin ( Cercotrichas podobe ), in figure not unlike our 
homely redbreast, but of strictly sombre dress—to my shame, 
I must add that it was singing merrily. A curious bird shot 
here was an insectivorous kingfisher which, belying its name, 
