UGANDA AND THE WAGANDA. 169 valued on account of its beautiful fur, frequents its shores. Eats abound, and crocodiles are numerous in the Lake, and much dreaded by the natives, but they have an inveterate foe in the shape of a large water-lizard, which digs up and destroys their eggs. Snakes are very abundant in Uganda, many of them being venomous ; a harmless species, of a bright green, gives its name to that colour. Boa constrictors are not unfrequently met with, and in my garden at Eubaga I shot one fourteen feet long.

Among birds the most noticeable are the parrots, vultures, kites, and fish-eagles. There are two species of the former ; one being the grey parrot, famed for its powers of talking, the other a small yellow and green bird. The first of these parrots is very common among the forests on the shores of the Lake, and is often seen in flocks of two or three hundred. The vultures are the scavengers of the towns and large villages, and there are always great numbers of them about the capital, where they feed on the victims of the executioners. Kites abound everywhere, and are very destructive to the chickens. The finest bird in Uganda is undoubtedly the whiteheaded fish-eagle (Maliaetus vocifer), which is found on the Nyanza, and the various streams where fish exist. Guinea-fowl are numerous in the jungle, and afford good sport, in addition to which their flesh is excellent eating, but they require heavy shot to bring them down ; No. 2 is best. On the Lake vast