The favourite haunts of the elephant are the larger stretches of uninhabited ‘bush’ with suitable watering-places, which are to be found on the northern shore of Chad and along the rivers, especially the Shari and Logone, whose banks Barth reckons to be the places in Africa which are richest in elephants.[261] Starting from here the animals wander farther afield even into inhabited localities—making the paths in the soft soil impassable for pedestrians owing to their deeply-trampled footprints. So there is scarcely a district in Bornu where it has not been observed, except in the extreme north-west. Where the elephant is not hunted, it does not appear to be timid,[262] but this supposition becomes less and less tenable as the number of fire-arms increases.[263]

The second largest many-toed animal of Africa, the rhinoceros, Rhinoceros bicornis, belongs likewise to the fauna of Bornu, but is much rarer and has only a restricted area of distribution. Indeed, it is only indigenous in the low-lying country on the Shari and Logone, especially in the Kung ‘bush’, south of about 10° north latitude, where it would appear to be more numerous and to be dreaded on account of its malicious character.[264]

Wherever rock formations appear in Bornu and even where they are not very apparent, one is sure of finding the smallest of African creatures of this family, the widely-distributed dassie, Hyrax abyssinicus. Numerous wild boars inhabit the plains and must be exceedingly common on the Shari according to Nachtigal’s narrative, though he does not mention their species.[265] Where they are not hunted they appear to be far from timid, at least if one can credit Barth’s account. The latter expresses himself on this subject as follows: ‘A company of naked boys were splashing and playing about in the water and seemed on the best of terms with a number of wild boars; I have never seen these animals in such quantities in the Sudan as in the neighbourhood of the Shari. Calves and goats were feeding on the plain with wild boars in their midst.’[266] It has not yet been definitely settled whether one of the bush-pigs (Potamochoerus) is found in Bornu; it is nearly always confused even in trustworthy reports with the formidable and strange-looking wart-hog; Phacochoerus africanus, with its misformed head and terrible tushes, which may even reach a foot in length. This animal is found far inside the confines of the Sahara and is still common even in Aïr.[267]

Wherever fairly large rivers, or collections of water that outlast the dry season, exist, the inevitable river-horse, Hippopotamus amphibius, is never absent. Chudeau mentions the appearance of the river-horse even in the swamps of the Manga country.[268] Gerhard Rohlfs and his predecessors still report large herds—up to 100 head—of these pachyderms on Lake Chad,[269] but on the other hand a contagious disease, of which Nachtigal makes mention,[270] appears to have greatly thinned their numbers, at least temporarily, and even now one commonly finds tushes and other remains of these beasts on the shores of the lake. In the Shari-Logone region on the contrary the hippopotamus has always been equally common. Many places there ‘literally swarm’ with these animals.[271] What holds good of the tameness of the wild boar when not hunted holds good also under similar conditions of the harmless hippo.[272]

Finally, the most interesting of the mammals of Bornu is a water-mammal, for whose appearance, however, no definite proof appears to have been presented as yet; this is the ‘ngabara’ or Manatus Vogelii,[273] which was first named by Barth on the Shari and lately has again been mentioned by Chevalier as occurring in Lake Chad;[274] and it can scarcely be doubted that the existence of this animal, taking into consideration also the remaining water-fauna of the lake, must have some relation to the geological and hydrographical conditions of the Chad countries at an earlier epoch.

The birds of Bornu, so variegated and interesting, are as manifold and rich in species as the mammalia; not least are they interesting on account of the alternations introduced by the temporary sojourn of birds of passage. Not only the number of species but also the quantities of individual birds is remarkable. In early spring, when the acacias begin to blossom, the open ‘bush’ resembles in places a single great aviary, which re-echoes with the singing and chirping of its inmates.[275] But even during the most comfortless period of the dry weather one can perceive everywhere in tree and bush strange birds, whose variegated plumage stands out in most striking contrast to the dull yellowish-grey of their surroundings. The little that is known about the ornithology of Bornu allows one to perceive that, as in the case of the Mammalia, an intermingling of fauna has been brought about. A richer collection of material than is now forthcoming is necessary before a better account can be given of the birds of Bornu.

How easily even common and characteristic species may be overlooked by a non-expert traveller, even after staying a year in a country, is proved by Barth’s assertion that the parrot is not found north of 8° North Latitude—and therefore not in Bornu at all.[276] Yet at the present day not less than four varieties of parrots live in Bornu, of whom the lively emerald-green ring-necked parakeet, Palaeornis cubicularis,[277] reaches as far as Lake Chad, and during the dry weather nests in the sparse acacia trees, which are the sole vegetation bordering the turbid water-courses of the ‘firki’ districts. In South Bornu, where along the rivers the big forest-trees and the swampy stretches of meadow-land form a pleasant park-like landscape, the conditions are also favourable for the Senegal parrot, Poeocephalus senegalus, which extends from Adamawa as far as here, and is remarkable for its shrill screech as well as for its variegated plumage. It and the ring-necked parakeet, both equally good on the wing, vie with the monkeys, finches, and pigeons in plundering the cornfields and thus make constant vigilance necessary on the part of the natives, who try to scare the intruders off with various things for making a noise. Two species of green parrots, or dwarf parrots, who are likewise found here, with light-grey and red heads, and who are scarcely visible and noiseless when at work, content themselves with ransacking the thick crowns of the fig-trees for the diminutive fruit.[278]

The numerous family of the soft-billed birds is also represented in surprising and beautiful varieties throughout Bornu; it is just among them that many species new to Bornu will doubtless be discovered. Of the cuckoos, Barth mentions the honey-guide, Indicator spec., which is useful to the natives, and which is called ‘Schneter’ by the Shuwa Arabs—probably onomatopoetically.[279] In the low thick thorn bushes, which it scarcely ever quits, lives the brown lark-heeled cuckoo, Centropus senegalensis, worthy of notice owing to its splendid ruby-red eyes. In the crowns of those acacias which are especially much overgrown with Loranthus and thickly intertwined with the fat tendrils of the Cissus lives in little flocks the long-tailed Colius macrurus, remarkable for the peculiar mouse-like manner which it shows. With clumsy clapping of wings and jerky flight the rhinoceros-bird of these regions, i.e. the ‘Tok’ or red-billed hornbill, Buceros erythrorhynchus,[280] hurries from one group of trees to the next, and on the ground amongst the high ‘bush’ grass, the odd-looking ground hornbill, Tmetocerus abyssinicus[281] sets to work to poke about like a stork.

Equally remarkable for their big beak and pleasing colouring, the kingfisher and the halcyon also appear in Bornu. The commonest is the black and white Ceryle rudis, a species which is also found in the Mediterranean countries, and which one often sees hovering above a stream, ere it plunges into the water to strike at a fish. A species double as large is to be found here and there in the more secluded spots of the water-courses. A relation also of the European kingfisher, only much smaller and of a darker ultra-marine blue, often darts past like an arrow, only visible for a second or two above the water, whilst the shining cobalt-blue Halcyon semicaeruleus, or African white-headed kingfisher, allows us to admire his splendid plumage at quite close quarters.

Where the river during the dry weather has left the steep banks free of water, those countless reedy hollows appear, close to each other, which are the haunt of the beautiful bee-eater, who has established its nesting-places here after the fashion of the sand-martin.[282] The most beautiful and also the commonest is the Merops nubicus, or Nubian kingfisher, painted purple-red and turquoise-blue, numbers of whose noisy fledglings often gather thickly in the branches of the leafless trees along the banks and are visible from afar owing to their red plumage. The graceful flight of this beautiful bird cannot be fully appreciated till it has been seen in company with the kites pursuing like the swallows the swarms of locusts, chasing them through the ‘bush’-fires, yet without ever being singed by the flames.[283]

The beautiful blue long-tailed Abyssinian roller, Coracias abyssinica, builds in hollow trees, and does not allow itself to be disturbed in the least in its nesting arrangements by people resting for a while under the tree it has selected. The three varieties of nightjar found in the country, belonging chiefly to the southern districts, are distinguished less by the colouring than by the peculiar shape of their feathers. When the two most remarkable species, Cosmetornis vexillarius, or pennant-winged nightjar, and Macrodipteryx longipennis, or standard-winged nightjar, appear flitting about in the dusk, the peculiar extension of the feathers of the wing gives one the impression that they do not belong to the bird but are some undefined object trailing after it. The swift, which is related to the nightjar but flies by day, has the same rapid flight as its European cousin of the ‘Micropus’ species.

Woodpeckers also are to be found, especially in wooded country where the trees are high; they are, however, rare and insignificant in comparison with the European varieties.

The Bornu birds of prey show many very characteristic species. The tall ‘Borassus’ palms swarm with hawks, Falco chiquera,[284] who have selected the thick fan-shaped crowns of this tree as their eyry.[285] The various beautiful kinds of eagle are to be found in places, but only sporadically; they are immediately noticeable owing to their colouring or to some such peculiarity. Near water fringed with thick vegetation, but especially in the ‘ambach’ thickets of Lake Chad, lives the black crested eagle, Spizaetus occipitalis,[286] with powerful talons, which at the approach of man withdraws in short flights further and further into the sheltering thickets. The water-eagle on the contrary, Haliaëtus vocifer, with black, white, and chestnut-brown markings, displays like most of the fishing birds little timidity in the presence of man. For hours at a time this bird sits poised on some leafless branch overhanging the bank, watching from this look-out for its prey. Round the granite ridges of Mandara and the adjacent isolated peaks circles the useful Bataleur eagle, Helotarsus ecaudatus, which from a great height is able to detect the poisonous snakes in spite of their protective colouring, and which vies with the numerous varieties of kite in activity of flight. The most peculiar of the kite species is the swallow-tailed kite, Nauclerus Riocouri, with its deeply-forked tail. It is principally to be met with hovering over cultivated land, and is especially fond of perching on the long poles of the hydraulic contrivances by means of which the Kanuri market-gardens are irrigated. The commonest kite is the Egyptian kite, Milvus aegyptiacus, which is widely distributed over North Africa, is omnipresent and ever-hungry, and is to be met with wherever meat is slaughtered or set out for sale. It takes up its fixed position near the carrion-vultures, surpasses even the monkeys in unparalleled impudence, steals bits of meat literally from off the trencher, gobbling it as it flies, yet does not disdain to pursue the insects frightened by the ‘bush’ fires. The majority also of the scavenger vultures frequent the same kind of haunts as the Egyptian kites, i.e. the neighbourhood of human habitation. The scavenger-vultures, Neophron percnopterus and Neophron pileatus, are semi-domesticated, and clear of refuse the streets, open spaces, and yards, where they mingle with the poultry; they not only remove carrion but also every kind of filth, and seeing that they often appear in hundreds, perform a very useful office. The walls of the town and leafless trees in the neighbourhood of the houses are where they chiefly congregate. But even carrion lying outside in the ‘bush’ is discovered, at any rate by the Neophron pileatus; often discernible only as a speck in the sky, it mounts to a considerable height, from whence no fallen wild animal escapes its sharp eyes. But the true vulture of the ‘bush’ is the big Gyps Rüppelii, or aasvogel, which loves to hover about the big ‘Gawo’ acacia trees along the water-courses, where the watering-places of the game assure it of the offal from the meals of the larger beasts of prey. Of the owls, which are not very common, it is worth noticing one species, which makes its nest flat on the ground among the tufts of high ‘bush’ grass.

In Bornu, as elsewhere in Africa, there are a very large number of different sorts of sparrows, represented by many varieties. They often appear in large flocks, and then almost always do great damage to the cornfields. The birds, which cheer the traveller with their song during the rains, belong nearly all to this family.

The song-birds are confined within narrower limits, and there is little to distinguish them in external appearance from their migratory relatives, who make a winter sojourn in Bornu, and with whom they may easily be confounded. Amongst the ‘Motacilla’ species which appear as migrants is included a beautiful black and white wagtail, peculiar to the Central Sudan.

The place of the European finches is taken in Bornu by the varied and many coloured family of the weaver-birds and the bright-coloured finches, the characteristic birds of Africa. They are ubiquitous even far within the oases of the Southern Sahara,[287] and where grass-seed or corn is plentiful, for this forms practically their exclusive food, their skilfully plaited nests, shaped like a pear or a chemical retort, are never missing, and many a tree, especially those of the villages, is hung with them all over as if with fruit. Almost all species belong to the worst class of pests of the cornfields, whose yield may be considerably diminished by their formidable numbers. The measures of defence adopted by the natives against unwelcome pillage are chiefly directed against the countless swarms of these little pests. While certain species appear only in pairs, the great majority of them are found in colossal flocks. The big fig-trees near Ulugo are so crowded with weaver-birds, that their droppings fall to earth from the trees like continuous rain. The true weaver-birds are peculiar in that the males during the dry weather wear the same homely sparrow-like plumage as the hens, while very early in the spring they flaunt in gorgeous feathers of crimson and gold. By far the most beautiful of the weaver-birds is the orange weaver-bird, Euplectes franciscanus, or Pyromelana, which builds in the high grass along the water-courses and whose cock-birds during the mating season wear a velvety plumage of jet black and brilliant scarlet, which makes the bird look like a little roundabout, as indeed he is. Owing to their enormously long cock’s-feather tails, the males belong to the Wida species. Although they mostly prefer the ‘bush’, still they are also frequently to be found in the neighbourhood of the towns; the Vidua paradisea, for example, builds right among the ruins of the town of Kukawa. Many of these finches, especially the little red or turquoise-blue Astrildae, are so tame that one can entice them near enough to catch them by scattering about a little food.

Equally gorgeous in plumage as the weaver-birds, but far surpassing them in tuneful ability, are the glossy starlings of Bornu, all distinguishable by their metallic blue or green feathers and their white eyes. The biggest representative of this family, the long-tailed Lamprotornis aeneus, is a never-failing phenomenon of the ‘bush’.

Everywhere, but especially in the plains, is to be found the ox-pecker, Buphaga africana,[288] which frequents big game or herds of cattle, and is a useful bird, for it rids the animals’ hides of all sorts of vermin. An occasional though always rare attendant of the scavenger-vulture is the black and white African crow, Corvus scapulatus, when there is carrion about.

Connected both as regards place and time with the presence of insects is the appearance of birds that live on them. In the thorn bushes of the undergrowth, especially in the neighbourhood of the water-courses, the golden-crowned shrike, Laniarius barbarus, attracts our attention not only by its melodious note but also by its beautiful black, gold, and blood-red colouring. In places, especially in damp localities, one sees swallows; in the neighbourhood of rock formations where there are springs the black-billed Paradise flycatcher, Terpsiphone melonogastra, appears, resembling the cock’s-feather-tailed Wida species, and also, if there are sufficient caterpillars, the Oriolus bicolor,[289] resembling its European relative, the yellow thrush, both in note and colouring, but surpassing it in beauty. In similar places is to be heard the song of the bulbul, Pycnonotus xanthopygus, which reminds one in many respects of the song-birds at home.

In every flowering bush are to be found the little sun-birds, wrongly classified as Kolibris, or humming-birds, adorned with the most gorgeous feathers of green, red, or blue, with a metallic shimmer. The flowers of the acacia, the ‘capparis’, and the tamarind are especially sought after by these charming birds. One of the most important varieties is the metallic sun-bird, Nectarinia metallica. The acacias, when in flower and frequented by buzzing insects, are also the resort of another striking bird, the long-tailed steel-blue ‘Baumhopf’, with its red curved beak. It regularly flies in advance of the caravan, perhaps because this furnishes it with prey, and mocks men with its peculiar laughter.

Everywhere in the woods and fields is to be heard the cooing and laughter of the many varieties of doves and pigeons both large and small.[290] The call of the turtle-dove, Turtur risorius, is one of the most commonly heard bird-notes in the Central Sudan, especially at the beginning of the rains. The Treron calva, the largest of the varieties found in Bornu, with green and yellow plumage, differs from other pigeons not only in colouring but also in its whole behaviour: like the dwarf parrot, it searches the crowns of the fig-trees in true parrot fashion for their tiny fruit. While the latter bird is comparatively timid, the doves are often extraordinarily confiding; by scattering a few breadcrumbs one can entice the little Chalcopeleia afra just like the Astrildae right into one’s tent.

Of the game birds, only two species[291] have at present been recognized in Bornu, the double-spurred francolin, or ‘bush-fowl’, Francolinus bicalcaratus, and the ubiquitous guinea-fowl, Numida meleagris. The latter, which is widely distributed even in the Sahara, is to be found everywhere except in the rugged mountainous country, but it is especially fond of light sandy soil, where it can rake about. Perched in the big acacia trees in the neighbourhood of the dunes, one may often find in the evening large flocks of these birds, which are by no means timid.[292]

In many districts of Bornu, especially the drier ones, is found the greatest of African birds, the ostrich, Strutio camelus, often in the vicinity of antelopes, whose company it is fond of seeking.[293] It seems to appear in Bornu chiefly where the acacias predominate, and after that is scarcely known where the ‘Terminalia’ district begins. These birds are common also in Kanem, and Barth observed large flocks of them in the sterile country round Kukawa.[294] At the present day the ostrich is very often domesticated, especially in the larger towns, but ostrich-farming has hitherto been so insignificant as to be quite negligible.[295]

A country like Bornu, which exhibits vast stretches of pasture and numerous shallow water-courses with flooded meadows along the banks, offers all the conditions favourable for every kind of long-legged bird, who, as a matter of fact, are found in great variety and number. The sandy, heath-like flats around Lake Chad are inhabited by no less than three species of bustard, of which the huge Otis Denhami[296] is a stately bird similar to the European bustard.

Great is the number of species of plover and snipe (‘Tringa’), which meet one at every step along the water-courses; many of their varieties are found distributed as far afield as the Mediterranean. Thus the spur-winged plover, Hoplopterus spinosus, well known in Egypt, is one of the commonest birds seen along the water-courses that crawl through the ‘firki’ districts. On the other hand, the very characteristic white-crowned plover, Xiphidiopteris albiceps, noticeable for its two yellow patches in front of the eyes, prefers the sand-banks of the river, where also it makes its breeding-ground, which it vigorously defends against nest plunderers by means of the spurs which it, as well as the before-mentioned species, carries at the bend of the wing. Wherever there are crocodiles their faithful satellite, the crocodile-bird, is to be found. Snipe, which, thanks to their protective colouring, are often overlooked, are common, especially on Lake Chad, according to Denham; this traveller speaks of them as being ‘as numerous as swarms of bees’,[297] so that one may conceive from this statement some idea of the great and constant abundance of bird life.

Besides the very rare white ibis, Geronticus aethiopicus, there is also found in Bornu the much commoner black variety, Geronticus hagedashia, a bird that by its dissonant, far-sounding cry, gives the game seasonable warning of the approach of man.

The stork family in Bornu are distinguished by their beauty, and to some extent by their size. Certainly the most beautiful of them is the gorgeous, rosy-red glutton, the African wood ibis, whom we often find perched in whole rows on the horizontal branches of the big trees along the banks—where also it builds its eyry—in company with the black stork, Ciconia abdimii.[298] In the reed-beds along the banks, the largest of all the storks, the gorgeous ‘Jabiru’, Mycteria senegalensis,[299] gets to work, and with its enormous bill is able to render innocuous to itself large poisonous snakes, thus proving one of the most useful birds in the country. In the neighbourhood of human habitations along the rivers the marabou, Leptoptilus crumenifer, is found, and where it has not yet been snared by Europeans for the sake of its feathers, is half-domesticated; it lies in wait for offal of all sorts, watching the movements of men, motionless for hours at a time, and only flapping its wings so as to intercept as many as possible of the sun’s rays, which it loves.

The more secluded and thickly-wooded spots on the river banks afford good places for the big nests of the hammer-head, Scopus umbretta, and here also we meet with the majority of the herons. Their largest representative, the giant heron, Ardea goliath, is rare, but the small snow-white Ardea bubulcus is an invariable attendant on the herds of cattle, whose intestinal worms form its chief food.

By far the most beautiful of all the long-legged birds living in Bornu is indisputably the crowned crane, or ‘Doboli’, Balearica pavonina,[300] which is widely distributed in tropical Africa. Flocks of these birds often ransack the Kanuris’ fields after harvest,[301] and where they have not been rendered mistrustful by European firearms, show not the least timidity of mankind. The same holds good of these birds, in so far as they have not been hunted, as Denham affirms to be the case regarding the Arcadian confidence of the water-birds of Lake Chad, when he says: ‘As I moved towards them, they only changed their places a little to the right or left.’[302]

Apart from domestic ducks, to which belongs the beautiful blue Allen’s gallinule, Porphyrio Alleni, the majority of the water-fowl are composed of web-footed birds, which in many places, especially on the open stretches of Lake Chad, absolutely cover the water. It is certainly no exaggeration of Rohlfs to say that ‘there are water-fowl of all sorts in such quantities as in no other place in the world’.[303]

Besides a large number of duck,[304] who would reward a special study, there are chiefly three species which are always remarkable for their numbers or their characteristic form or appearance, and are scarcely ever absent from one of the larger stretches of water. These are the spur-winged goose, Plectropterus gambensis, the Egyptian goose, Chenalopex aegyptiacus, and the pelican, Pelecanus onocrotalus. More remarkable for their peculiar habits are the scissor-billed tern, Rhynchops flavirostris, and the strange African darter, Plotus Lavaillantii. The former is remarkable for the way and manner in which it ploughs the water with its beak as it flies for the sake of catching food, the latter for the strangeness of its movements—whether on the water or on dry land—such as is displayed by none of its relatives or in general by any other bird.

The central and south European migratory birds are certainly all to be found in Bornu, in so far as they seek these latitudes in the winter-time. One of the commonest sights during the dry weather is the ordinary stork, Ciconia alba, which one may meet with in whole flocks along the banks of Lake Chad, yet they do not as a rule mingle with the indigenous long-legged birds. High in the air is seen the swift, Micropus apus, and in the ‘bush’ one meets with many birds, which are well known to us in Europe. The most commonly seen of these are the wryneck, Jynx torquilla, the wheatear, Saxicola oenanthe, the wagtails, white, Ray’s and blue-headed, the crested lark, Alauda cristata,[305] the golden oriole, Oriolus galbula, and hoopoe, Upupa epops.

The reptiles and Ranidae of Bornu are at present only properly known in those varieties which are often seen, or which are remarkable for the benefit or damage which they cause.

Of the turtles, for whom, if only in parts, all the conditions of life are forthcoming, the only one known at present is the Sternothaerus Adansoni[306] living in the bed of the River Yedseram. On the other hand, crocodiles, belonging to the species Crocodilus vulgaris, are to be seen everywhere that collections of water worthy of the name are to be found,[307] but they also stay, in places right up to the foot of the mountains, in the smaller streams and pools, provided that a communication, if only temporary, exists with the larger water-courses; and it is surprising how they are able to maintain themselves here during the dry weather. But of all places the crocodile is commonest in Chad and in its affluents which contain continuously running water, especially the Shari, where indeed one may see giant specimens—as much as four metres long—sunning themselves with gaping jaws during the hottest time of the day on the high sand-banks. The great quantity of fish in the rivers prevents the mail-clad monsters as a rule from attacking men and cattle, but the contrary does sometimes take place—especially in the small but deep and dull-coloured water-courses.

In the reed-beds along the banks of the rivers and lakes often lurks the giant water-monitor, Varanus niloticus, with its variegated markings, while it is just the driest parts of the ‘bush’ that are the favourite haunts of the thick-set dull earth-coloured land-monitor, Varanus exanthematicus, which has few markings. Most of the smaller lizards are quite domesticated. On every building, wall and roof, the beautiful blue and red lizard, Agama colonorum, sports in the hottest sunshine, in some places in company with a brown and white striped lizard with a lively turquoise-blue tail. At night-time these lizards are relieved by the confiding Geckoes, Platydactylus, who search the interior of the houses for every kind of vermin and thus are of great utility.

In the millet fields and amongst the ‘bush’ trees are found several varieties and large numbers of brightly-coloured chameleons, which appear on the dry stubble after the conclusion of the harvest, and are able, though not to so extensive a degree as is often supposed, to suit their colouring to that of their surroundings.[308]

Quite large in many places is the number of snakes, among whom several are very poisonous and of considerable size. By far the largest of all is the python, Python Sebae, usually to be found in the neighbourhood of the water-courses, but it is also fond of coming into the villages, whose hen-roosts it plunders, but is otherwise harmless. It reaches a considerable length; thus Barth secured a specimen, apparently belonging to this species, that measured over five and a half metres.[309] Distributed all over Bornu, but most commonly among the dunes undermined by field-mice and hares on the south-western shore of Chad, where it finds plenty of prey, is the puff-adder, Vipera arietans;[310] in consideration of its size—it reaches a length of over a yard and is as thick as a man’s arm—and its predilection for human habitations swarming with rats, it is a dangerous and poisonous brute, but fortunately evinces great laziness in the daytime. Commoner still is the ‘Efa’, Echis arenicola, which in the cool nights seeks the warm houses of the natives; its proper lurking-place is among the thick-knotted roots of the fig-tree. To it appear attributable the majority of fatal accidents from snake-bite.[311] The African cobra, Naja haje, the liveliest and most truculent of the poisonous snakes, is found indeed everywhere, but fortunately is distinctly rare. Finally, there is a very long green tree-snake, which is credited by the natives with poisonous qualities.[312]

Of Ranidae also there is no lack. All stagnant and sluggish flowing water harbours crowds of semi-gigantic frogs. A bluish-grey variety with a pointed head possesses the ability of making as much row as a flock of crows, and after the rainy season has set in nightly drives to desperation those travellers who are unable to accustom themselves to the nocturnal noises of the tropics. Small silvery-grey tree-frogs with a red belly—they belong to a widely-distributed species—are often found in Southern Bornu clinging to the leaves.

The connecting link between the Ranidae and the fish tribe is a peculiar animal found also in the Nile, the scaled salamander of Lake Chad, Lepidosiren annectens, which, moreover, is a living argument in favour of a former hydrographical connexion between the Chad countries and the Nile. The Shuwa Arabs say the salamander is a savoury dish and are keen on trapping it; the pear-shaped gelatinous capsules—generally hidden among the matted roots of a papyrus bush—in which the animal spends the dry season, are easily found in the dried-up soil on the banks of Lake Chad.

Zoologically speaking the vertebrates that have been least sufficiently investigated hitherto are the fish that live in Bornu waters. The little that is known about them again shows a similarity with the fauna of the Nile countries.[313] A thorough investigation here would contribute to the solution of many geographical questions. Lake Chad and its affluents are beyond all conception rich in fish, sometimes as big as a man in size;[314] the fish ascend the streams far up to their very source, and remain there even during the dry weather, provided that the water outlasts it. Among the most savoury are several species of cat-fish, which are extraordinarily abundant; at the fall of the water they make shift to do with a very small quantity of moisture, and are able to last out the temporary dryness in the humid mud. The best-known varieties are the electric cat-fish, Malapterurus electricus,[315] the ‘Fahak’, or ‘puffer’, Tetrodon fahaka,[316] and a species of pike, Polypterus bicher.[317] All three are also found in the Nile.

Whilst amongst the vertebrates of Bornu many represent species proper to East Africa, the same is the case to an enhanced degree among the invertebrates. Many classes of insects have almost without exception East African shapes, and only quite a few West African. Certain kinds of insects are even, considered purely from the point of view of animal geography, the most interesting kinds of fauna that Bornu has to show. The fact that numerous palearctic insects are also represented here is partly to be explained by their considerable powers of flight; but it is further noteworthy that the Sudan species, which have to undergo without exception only a short larval stage, show with a quicker period of generation a far smaller size than the corresponding European, i.e. Mediterranean species.

In a country where the distinction between the wet and dry seasons is so sharply defined as in Bornu, it is natural that the life of the legged creatures, whose whole existence is closely bound up with the constant moisture of the soil and atmosphere, is subject to considerable fluctuations as regards abundance. Thus soon after the beginning of the first rains great numbers of insects of all sorts appear, which indeed decrease somewhat in the middle of the rainy season, to reach their height during harvest time, whilst the winter is poor in insect-life. Where the species appear in successive generations following each other alike in the dry and in the rainy seasons—this holds good especially of the butterflies—they are subject in a remarkable degree to the laws of seasonal dimorphism, that is to say that the parts which remain visible in repose, show a noteworthy adaptability to the colouring of their surroundings. To the insects and such-like creatures, which are in evidence at all times of the year, belong especially those whose presence at any time is considered a nuisance, such as termites, ants, or vermin.

Of all the insect genera the beetles are the best represented, not only as regards number of species but also as regards splendour of appearance.[318] Big camboid-beetles equipped with formidable mandibles—to this species belong the giant Anthia venator, found all over North Africa—gauzy-winged tiger-beetles, Cicindelae, which scurry over the sand-banks, and big black water-beetles, Cybister, which people all the ponds and pools, are the most rapacious among them. In Bornu the chafer family is also rich both in appearance and species. Everywhere on dung one meets big and little sleek black or metallic tinted dung-beetles, whose giant variety is the elephant dung-beetle, Heliocopris Sandersi, which builds long tunnels on the ground and is the most powerful of dung-rollers. Whilst the Dynastidae are very scarce in the Sudan, the rose-beetles, or Cetonidae, are as prominent in Bornu as everywhere else in Africa, both as regards number of species, size, and colouring. Great quantities of these beetles, new and surprising examples of which appear every month, are first seen immediately after the beginning of the rains, when every flowering acacia swarms with them. Very many species, and quite the most beautiful ones, such as the white ant-eating Gnathocera species with its zebra-like markings of black, white, and yellow, or the big golden-green fork-nosed Eudicellae of South Bornu, seek the sap which flows from the grasses and trees; at the slightest concussion of these drinking-places they fly off with a loud buzzing.

Distinguished likewise by numerous species and brilliant colouring is the family of gala-beetles, Buprestidae, and the long-horned beetles, or Cerambycidae. Of the former there is a large and thoroughly tropical variety, with golden-yellow marking on a ground like brown leather, which is found even as far as the country of Aïr in the Sahara; it is called Sternocera castanea.[319] Quantities of this giant beetle swarm about the end of the rains on the big acacia trees, on whose leaves they feed. On the dunes overgrown with broom on the banks of Chad one finds the beautiful steel-blue Caillaudi thickly powdered with yellow, which belong to the Buprestidae species, Julodis, characteristic of the southern Mediterranean lands. The long-horned beetles, usually with very variegated wing teguments, are remarkable for the damage they do to timber. One large and active species of an orange-yellow colour, striped with velvety black, the Diastocera fasciata, is noteworthy for the way in which both males and females are wont to gnaw off, like a beaver, quite large branches of certain trees, in order to find a place to lay their eggs; the stumps thus sawn through are so neatly done that they might have been produced by a turner’s lathe.[320]

Of the beetles that appear in large numbers, one should especially mention the black Pimeliae, a true palearctic variety, which are to be found in the sandy districts of Bornu, especially in the neighbourhood of villages amongst dirt and rubbish. Finally, the fire-flies, whose light may be observed at the beginning of the rains all the evening everywhere in tree and bush, belong to the widely-distributed species of Lampyris.

Besides the beetles the Hymenopterae in Bornu also belong to the class of insects who are of importance for the good service or the damage that they do; thus the honey-bees are certainly as numerous as the varieties belonging to this family which are hurtful to man. Wherever there are fair-sized trees with hollows in them, and especially in South Bornu, one may count with certainty on the presence of swarms of wild bees, which are distinguished in no way from those of other parts of Africa, as far as concerns viciousness and truculence, as all travellers have reason to relate.[321] Nevertheless, the natives understand very well how to get at the honey, and have also hit upon contrivances for settling the bees in places decided on by themselves. Barth and Nachtigal mention besides the tree-living bees a species which nests in holes in the ground and produces a special kind of honey.[322] Whilst the Apis variety, to which the stinging honey-bee belongs, only attacks one if one approaches its nest, its relative the non-stinging Melipona variety makes itself a regular pest by following man and beast in whole swarms in order to suck their sweat, so that many travellers, especially in view of the smaller size of the Melipona, have been led to regard them as flies. Especially unpleasant is the acrid smell which these Hymenopterae diffuse when one kills them, and this attracts still larger swarms of the intrusive insects.

The Formicinae, or ants, appear in Bornu in remarkable numbers though not in such masses as in the primaeval forest region. Many are apparently identified, even by travellers like Barth, with the termites, and are thus held to some extent responsible for the latter’s destructive activity,[323] yet they are ubiquitous and their intrusiveness, though not always injurious, makes them in the highest degree troublesome. It is only by making a barrier of oil or water that one can protect oneself from their attentions. The driver-ant, too, Annoma, that unpleasant visitor from the primaeval forest, appears, according to Barth’s description, to be always present in the Central Sudan.[324] At all events the ant fauna of Bornu is very large, and Gerhard Rohlfs says with perfect truth: ‘No country could have so many ants and such different species of them as Bornu.’[325] Nachtigal, too, lays special stress on the number of species of ants.[326] Among the most important species of Hymenopterae living in Bornu is the sand-wasp, Pompilus, remarkable for its size as well as for its brilliant colouring.

Bornu is poor in butterflies, if one takes into comparison the prodigious richness of the primaeval forest in such insects, at least as far as one considers number of species. In spite of this it is just the lepidopterous fauna of the country which is extraordinarily interesting. Only one single variety is West African, all the others, so far as they are not South European or cosmopolitan, or else of a general Ethiopian character, are East African.

As far as butterflies are concerned, the shimmering Nymphalidae species, in which the primaeval forest region is so rich, is almost entirely unrepresented. Of important forest butterflies there are only forthcoming some of the quick-flying Charaxes species, which are always hovering over the granite rocks of Southern Bornu, where they feed on the sap oozing from the trees or on excrement. The Precis species, corresponding to the European Vanessa species, show themselves during sharply defined periods of the year. Everywhere in the ‘bush’, especially feeding on elephant dung, is to be found the cosmopolitan ‘painted lady’, Pyrameis cardui. The best represented of all the butterflies are the whites, Pieridae, and amongst them again the most numerous are the charming Teracolus species, characteristic of the Sudan, which with their variegated markings, their carmine or bright blue beauty-spots flutter round the flowering Capparis bushes—they come out especially also in the dry weather—and so form the most beautiful living ornaments of the often desolate ‘bush’.[327] It is also remarkable how exquisitively suited to this family is the golden-red colouring of the under-side of the withered grasses during the dry weather. The Papilionidae species, which includes the largest sized butterflies, is extremely scantily represented in Bornu; so remarkable is this lack, that one of the species that is found, viz. the big black and white Papilio Schultzei, is not only a very interesting insect from the point of view of animal geography, but at the same time is also the most interesting representative of the fauna of Bornu in general, so far as it is known. This butterfly is only found in a few small places among the granite rocks north of Uba, i.e. close to the border of Adamawa. The nearest relatives of this butterfly are not found again till east of Lake Victoria Nyanza in East Africa, that is, at a distance of roughly 3,000 kilometres—the intervening countries, including the highlands of Mandara, are apparently altogether without them; they were considered as characteristic of East Africa until the discovery of this new species. It is only geologists that may perhaps be in a position to clear up this curiosity in Natural History, for this butterfly belongs to those, who—like the European Parnassiae—are very unwilling to leave their usual haunts and show not the slightest migratory propensity.

The moths, which especially among the Noctuae exhibit many Mediterranean varieties, are somewhat more richly represented than the butterflies. The caterpillars of two variegated Saturniidae of the species Epiphora, which live on the Zizyphus trees, belong to the silk-cocoon producing family. These cocoons, however, are not employed by the natives. Many kinds of caterpillars, which crowd the trees and bushes soon after the first tornadoes, are eaten by the pagan tribes, as is usual in Africa; amongst such caterpillars are those of the Saturniidae, Gonimbrasia osiris,[328] which appear in regular swarms.

An important and sometimes fatal rôle is played by the two-winged flies, or Dipterae, for to them belong almost without exception in Bornu those varieties of insects, who have been ascertained to be the chief carriers of the disease germs, from which both man and beast have to suffer. Even when this does not hold good, they are for the most part perfect pests, which may become dangerous from their very numbers. All travellers are aware of the quantities of mosquitoes, often to be described as ‘in size equalling a large fly’,[329] which appear especially along the rivers and on Lake Chad in regular clouds, and make it impossible in many places for men and animals to stay there. Of these blood-suckers, to which belong many species of the Culex and Anopheles family—the female of the latter is the carrier of malaria—as well as the diminutive sand-fly, Simulia, with a very irritating bite. Denham says: ‘A chief told me near Kussery that during the last two years he had lost two children, who were literally stung to death, and from our own observation and sufferings this does not appear to be an exaggeration.’[330]

There are also many other flies which are justly dreaded, such as the numerous varieties of horse-flies and the dangerous Glossinae, the female of which carries the tsetse-sickness among cattle and the sleeping sickness among men,[331] though the latter has not yet been observed in Bornu;[332] fortunately the tsetse-fly is only found in certain tracts, but there it always causes more or less destruction among cattle.[333] Barth as well as Nachtigal mentions the incredible number of fleas in the houses of the natives;[334] on the other hand the ‘jigger’, pulex penetrans, which was introduced into Africa from America at the beginning of the nineteenth century, has not yet penetrated to Bornu.

The Neuropterae are represented by the big Myrmeleon species with brown-spotted wings; they are three times as large as the European ant-lion. The Orthopterae, as far as regards dragon-flies, are inferior to the big metallic-glistening species of the primaeval forest, but the southern districts especially excel in the family of the white ants. Everywhere, especially in the acacia forest,[335] one meets with the considerable erections, three or more metres in height, made by these termites. The white ants bear the name of bellicosus, fatalis, or mordax, but only justly so in as much as their war of extermination is directed exclusively against vegetable products. Their destructive fury shows itself in the most troublesome fashion, so that nothing is safe from them; all vegetable material and objects placed on it, such as boxes, trunks, building timber, paper, or cord, is covered by these insects with the familiar crust of mud, unless preventive measures are taken against them, and underneath this the work of destruction goes forward.[336] Many districts, in which dry branches and withered leaves or grass cover the ground, thus take on an appearance towards the end of the rainy season, which Marquardsen describes very accurately, when he says that they ‘give the impression that they have been exposed to floods for a long time’.[337] The damage done by the white ants is to some extent counterbalanced by the fact that during the rains swarms of these little creatures, which lose their wings at the slightest touch, are collected as food by the natives.[338] Where ant-hills exist in the bush they are in a regular proportion with the number of capparis bushes, which thrive in unusual profusion in just such spots; and it is not impossible that this fact conceals a law of symbiosis.

The strange-looking Mantidae and Phasmidae do not leave one in any doubt as to their existence in Bornu. The number of locusts also, including the Acridiae with brightly coloured under-wings, is legion, they start up wherever one goes. Rohlfs observed clouds of these creatures moving from north to south and taking hours to pass a given point.[339] At the beginning of the rains appear the Gryllus species, with few varieties but in large numbers. These are the insects which make themselves chiefly perceptible to one’s hearing; in fact, one large species gives out such a shrill note, that one’s ears ache if standing in the vicinity of this musical insect. On the other hand, the cricket, the most noisy insect in the primaeval forest region, is remarkably rare in Bornu, the Fulgoridae also are not common; the above-mentioned distinction between the dry and rainy seasons may not suit them.

Bugs too show a great variety of forms. Whilst many of them are deceptively like a withered leaf, others resemble the beetle species in form and markings; and the Reduviini administer an irritating bite when touched. A species of bed-bug is also found, and this kind of vermin is very widely distributed.

In hollow trees are to be found centipedes, Scolopendra, which are dreaded on account of their bite, but the giant ‘Julus’ species, or millepede, as thick as a man’s finger, which lives in similar places, is perfectly harmless.

Of the spider tribe, there is the thick hairy Solpuga, which is fond of inhabited places and is shunned as poisonous. Still more dreaded on account of their sting are the various species of Buthus, or scorpion, which likewise exhibit a special preference for human habitations. The big black scorpion, however, as long as a man’s hand, which is found on the coast, does not seem to appear in Bornu. Many varieties of the spider proper are forthcoming and are distinguished by their remarkable form and often also by their gorgeous colouring. One species with bluish-grey and golden-yellow markings and as large as a fingerbowl builds huge webs with strong yellow threads amongst the undergrowth.

Amongst the mites, there is a tick, Ixodes, which makes itself very noticeable as a most troublesome form of vermin; they swarm in innumerable quantities on the grass of the roads and ‘bush’ paths and appear even to outlast the burning of the grass in the dry weather by slipping into cracks in the soil. Cattle and sheep are often thickly covered with them and on this account are apt to waste away from the loss of blood caused by them. Apparently the vermin mentioned by Barth under the name of ‘Kari’ is something similar to such a tick.[340]

The little that is known or published about the ‘Crustaceae’ of Bornu leaves us in ignorance of some pretty considerable species;[341] still the Chad and its affluents have certainly a great abundance of interesting varieties to show.

The few varieties of molluscs[342] which are known in Bornu furnish a surprising amount of information. While among the land-snails the handsome Achatinae, which are found everywhere in tropical Africa, predominate both in number and size, there are varieties of molluscs in Chad and its affluents which more than any other creatures confirm the theory set forth by Professor Dr. O. Boettger, in Nachbl. der deutsch. Mal.-Ges., 1905, p. 25,[343] ‘that in very early geological times the Chad district, which has now no effluent, was in connexion with the Nile water-system’. There are a large number of mussels also, whose shells cover certain spots on the banks of Chad with a stratum of the same kind; these spots were formerly under the water of the lake and appear likewise to confirm Boettger’s assertions.[344]

Among the worms the big earth-worms of Southern Bornu, which are also found in Adamawa, deserve mention; their excrement forms little piles of considerable size which are a characteristic phenomenon of the ‘bush’ there.[345] Of parasitic worms there is the well-named Guinea-worm, Filaria medinensis, by far the best known and apparently the commonest variety.[346]

Information as to the water animalculae of Bornu is practically non-existent, although this would perhaps be a point of cardinal importance for the geologist. There still remains a wide and fruitful field of inquiry for the scientist on this whole subject, as far as Bornu is concerned.

The principal domestic animals bred in Bornu can be enumerated in a few words. What Nachtigal said on this subject forty years ago, holds good even to-day.[347] The most important of the animals bred there is the ox. In Bornu their use is not confined to furnishing butcher’s meat and the production of milk, but they are also constantly employed in some parts as riding and pack-animals. There are various breeds of oxen in Bornu, but they all show traces of intermixture. The most widely distributed species is the humped ox, similar to the ‘zebu’ of India, which is bred all over the Sudan, but which is much larger than the latter and far more varied in colour. Certain animals of this breed have the very remarkable peculiarity that their horns grow at a disproportionate rate.[348] In the neighbourhood of Lake Chad one often sees ‘Kuri’ oxen with the hump scarcely formed or not at all, yet adorned with extraordinarily long and strong horns, which gives them a somewhat strange appearance.[349] Sheep and goats cannot compete in point of numbers with the cattle. The former are of extraordinary size,[350] while the latter, as throughout the Sudan, have very thin bodies, short legs, with short and generally brown hair.

According to Nachtigal’s statement the horse bred in Bornu found its way there across the Sudan 800 years ago.[351] It has acclimatized itself excellently, and in the course of years has adapted itself very well to the conditions of soil of the swampy low-lying plains, which are not exactly suited to a horse’s anatomy. Donkeys are largely bred, but chiefly in the south-westerly districts, near the Hausa States, where they take the place of oxen as pack-animals. They are all of a very light grey colour with sharply defined zigzag stripes on the back and a single similar stripe of the same colour across the withers. Mules are not bred in Bornu.

Of the camels employed in Bornu only the kind that are bred in Kanem can remain there for long, and even they only thrive where they can find on the dunes plants to graze on such as the ‘retam’, which are indigenous to the Sahara.

Dogs are not often met with;[352] they are small, mean-looking, and certainly have few of the good qualities of the European animal, and there are few varieties of breed; in Zinder they appear to live in a semi-wild state and to have undertaken there, like the vultures, the duty of scavengers.[353] Birds are confined to cocks and hens, and here and there also pigeons and Muscovy ducks. Finally, of the wild creatures of Bornu which are occasionally in some places tamed and made useful, the most important are the civet-cat, the guinea-fowl, and the ostrich.