60 THE DOWNFALL OF THE DERVISHES full of little doves (¢urtur Senegalensts), and a -flock of wild geese got up, offering a fine . shot had one carried a gun. A few hundred yards away I noticed a line of huge Marabout storks. The plumage of these birds is very striking, and I have heard it suggested that when on one occasion during the Atbara campaign a correspondent rode back to camp in hot haste with the report that he had been chased by Dervishes, he had really fallen in with a line of Marabout storks, and mistaken their mottled plumage for Arab “ gibbehs.” Farther along the bank we skirted a huge marsh—a perfect paradise for a sportsman: teal, duck, and snipe rose in vast coveys; on a tall bush a large fishing eagle was perched, which paid scant attention to the steamer ; while at the foot two small crocodiles or very large water-lizards lay basking in the sunshine.

On every side a multitude of cranes, secretary birds, and the sacred ibis stalked solemnly about in dignified silence. The whole formed a charming picture of animal life undisturbed by the presence of man —every creature working out its own perfection in “delight and liberty.”