SUDAN BIRDS

INTRODUCTION.It is questionable whether any introduction is called for here, sincethis is but the concluding half of a work the first part of w T hieli appearedin 1926. The same style and plan has been adopted as in Part I, butfor the sake of convenience the notes on systematic keys and abbreviationsused which were given in the introduction of that part are also includedin Fart II. Over four years have elapsed since Part I of this Cataloguewas published. For this delay my only excuse is that its preparationlias been limited entirely to my spare time, and for a great portion of thisperiod I have been located where neither library facilities nor specimenswere available to me. A collecting trip to East Africa and Angola during1930 also further delayed the work.Now that it is completed, perhaps a few words regarding the waythis Catalogue came into being may not be without some interest. Earlyin 1922, soon after I joined the entomological stall of the SudanGovernment, I commenced a list of Sudan birds, with short notes on thestatus and range of each, and to this I added from time to time " keys "adapted from standard works on African birds. This list was intendedsolely as an aid to my studies on the bird-life of what was then, for mc>a terra incognita. Much travel, and a consequent lack of library facilities,prevented my completing the list, but what was lost on the one handwas gained on the other, for I gradually became familiar with the birdsin life, and, through collecting specimens, I was later able to learn theirnames. All this time I felt the need (which every interested Officialin the Sudan must feel) for a reliable, more or less popular handbookto the bird-life of the country.On being posted to Khartoum in 1924, for service in connection withthe Lord Kitchener Memorial Medical School, I was also appointedDeputy Curator of the Museum. I now found myself confronted with theproblem of obtaining adequate labels for the fine mounted series of localbirds on exhibition. These had to be printed, and it occurred to me thatat the same time, if suitably planned, a very useful local list could bepublished for little additional cost. The scheme w r as submitted to Mr.Harold II. King, Curator of the Museum, who fully endorsed it, and aftersome discussion of details the present plan and style was adopted. Myformer list, although incomplete, was now called into service again, and,with some alteration, became the foundation of the present list.Soon after the completion of the manuscript of the first part I tenderedmy resignation to the Sudan Government, but before leaving the country3 lA