OCR Text |
Show 962 CAPT. STANLEY S. FLOWER ON THE [Dec. 18, Family PLATALEID^E. PLATALEA sp. inc. Spoonbills were noted only on 10 days out of the 47 : on the White Nile at intervals from near Omdurman to Lake No, and on the Bahr-el-Jebel south of Heliat Nuer. Family CICONIIDJE. DISSCRA EPISCOPUS (Bodd.). This Stork was seen only on the 23rd of March between the Sobat and Zeraf. CICONIA CICONIA (L.). On the 11th of March some flocks of about twenty White Storks were seen near Omdurman ; the species was again noted on the 13th, and on the 20th, some miles south of Jebel Ahmed Agar, about 5 P.M. we saw a wonderful gathering on a sandbank, there must have been more than a thousand of them. Again on the 19th of April we saw a few of this species near Jebel Ahmed Agar. EPHIPPIORHYNCHUS SENEGALENSIS (Shaw). The Great Saddle-billed Stork was noted on 18 days out of the 47, either solitary or in pairs; it is not so familiar as tbe Maribou or Tantalus, but is not shy and wild like the Shoebill. This species we saw on the White Nile south of Eenk, on the Zeraf, Jebel, Ghazal, and Arab rivers, and on Lakes No and Ambadi. LEPTOPTILUS CRUMENIFERUS (Less.). The Maribou, or " Adjutant Bird," is about the most noticeable bird of this region; it was observed on 33 days out of the 47: on the White Nile from within a day's journey of Omdurman to Lake No, on the Bahr-el-Zeraf, on the Bahr-el-Jebel from its mouth to as far south as we went (about 7° 20' N. lat.), on the Ghazal and Arab, and on Lake Ambadi. It usually congregates in large parties in the neighbourhood of native camps, or where an animal has been killed. I once counted sixty-nine of these great Storks seated round the carcase of an elephant. In places where there are trees, these birds can be seen perched in their tops. ANASTOMUS LAMELLIGERUS Temm. The Gape-billed Stork was noted on 30 days out of the 47 ; it was usually seen in large numbers busily searching for food in the mud and shallow water, or on the beds of the so-called " oyster " (AEtheria), left exposed by the low Nile: it is a gloomy funereal-looking bird. W e observed it all down the White Nile from Omdurman to Lake No, and on the Zeraf, Jebel (as far south as we went), Ghazal, and Arab rivers, and on Lake Ambadi. Some of the flocks number many hundreds of individuals. Like the Ibises, this bird perches on trees where there are any. |