J = Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008 with funding from Microsoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/egyptianbirdsforOOwhymuoft si ; hk y i . an yi Wn ae VA His are a ak Hil en 7 Tapia ne mt 7 Pit a he a Diy AY ” a Ne . - va ’, he an bog ie i i : eae ms i) OAs pie we 1a b hen : Ka ae ‘ i i i. eS \ a ee ed < Da gs | Sing uv Pe 5 ot aa Pe a Me rh) y) iy Ae Bee ik ee ; iby tt res ine Wate ALU Al {Wd : a Hay) oe Gh ae ‘ a pap “oe ee 4 ae ' a Te a it mn Fs bi ny ney ag ae +e my NOM f \ i a7 \ ee Bee ae re Be ts y iy eee ad Fear en EGYPTIAN BIRDS IN THE SAME SERIES, EGYPT PAINTED AND DESCRIBED BY R. TALBOT KELLY R.I., R.B.A., F.R.G.S., F.Z.S. Containing 75 Full-page Illustrations in Colour. Price 20s. net. (Post free, price 20s. 6d.) PUBLISHED BY A. & C. BLACK, Sono Squarzr, LONDON, W. AGENTS AmericA . THe Macmictran Company 64 & 66 Firrny Avenue, New York AusTRALASIA THE Oxrorp UniversiTy Press 205 Frinpers Lane, MELBouRNE Canapa . THe Macmitcan Company or Canapa, Ltp. 27 RichMonp Street West, Toronto InpIA. . « Macmittan & Company, Ltp. Macmictan Buitpinc, Bomsay 309 Bow Bazaar Srreet, CatcuTta COOT The Sacred Lake, Karnak. >) “0 -o CO a ae ; f i Yank N \) S top 1, ef sees rb. ites BIRDS FOR THE MOST PART SEEN IN THE NILE VALLEY BY CHARLES 'WHYMPER LONDON ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK 1909 — « i i ll QL LQd W 5 ZABRAR EY JUN T 1962 vy 2 wf ki EASITY oF pe a 797195 DEDICATED TO bis bigbness Che Khedive IN GRATEFUL RECOGNITION OF MUCH PERSONAL KINDNESS AND INTEREST SHOWN TO THE AUTHOR FOREWORD THE question is so often asked, “ What is the name of that bird ?” that the author has tried in plainest fashion to answer such questions. The scientific man will find little that is new in these pages ; they are not meant for him—they are alone meant for the wayfaring man who, travelling this ancient Keypt, wishes to learn something of the birds he sees. CW. Hovuceuron, Huntincponsaire, 1909, ont OD oO & OF DO — =o sy, KS) LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . Coot . Birds in Mid-air . A View on the Nile near Minieh . Griffon Vulture . Egyptian Vulture . Egyptian Kite . . Kites in Flight. . Barn-Owl . Little Owl . Egyptian Eagle Owl . Hoopoe : . Common Kingfisher . . Black and White Kingfisher . Little Green Bee-Eater . Common Swallow and Egyptian erie : . Pale Crag Swallow . White Wagtail . Crested Lark . White-rumped Chat and ee Ghnes . Blue-throated Warbler . Reed Warbler . . Sparrow 1x . Frontispiece FACING PAGE 60 DD on wv em 2% =} =f) =) =f CO io © EGYPTIAN BIRDS x FACING PAGE 28. Desert Bullfinch or Trumpeter Finch . : ; 86 24. Hooded Crow . ; : : . - ; ; 90 25. Egyptian Palm Doves. : P : : ; 92 26. Sand-Grouse . : : 4 : : : OA 27. Hey's Sand- Partridge : ; : ; ; < 100 28. Quail ‘ ; ; ; ; : : ; . 2s 29. Cream-coloured Courser . : ’ ; : ‘ 108 80. Green Plover or Lapwing. 3 : ‘ ; | re $1, Spur-winged Plover . : : , 4 : . os 32. Black-headed Plover ‘ j : : ‘ . ies 33. Ringed Plover . ; ; : d ; : - ee 34, Common Snipe : : ; : : . ee 35. Painted Snipe . : : ; : : . . 228 36. Avocet . : ; ; ‘ ‘ . ~bse 87. Sacred Ibis waa — rus , : ; : : Roe b 38. Cranes. : ; ; : : : ; . 136 39. Spoonbills ; : : : : : : : 140 40. Black Stork. ; ; 3 . : : - 142 41. Shoebill Stork . : : E : ; 2 a, 148 42. Herons . : - : : : : ~ 152 43. Buff-backed as 3 : : : : : “ee 44. Night Heron . : : : é ‘ : ; 160 45. Flamingo . . : : ; : : : 2 alae 46. Studies of Gallinule . 3 : : : : <1 aes 47. Egyptian Geese 3 . : : ; 174 48. Pintail, Teal, and Shavalice Dace ; : ; cS 49. White Pelicans ; K : < : ; ee RRS 50. Cormorants : d 192 . Lesser Black- eed Gull and Black- anes Gull A 198 Also eleven line dranings in the teat. BIRDS IN MID-AIR EGYPTIAN BIRDS Purny declares that it was by watching the flight of birds in general, and of the Kite in particular, that men first conceived the idea of steering their boats and ships with a tail or rudder, for, says he, ‘these birds by the turning and steering by their tails showed in the air what was needful to be done in the deep.” Nowhere can the aerial movements of birds be better studied than on the Nile, and as one’s eye becomes trained it is just by the varying individual methods of flight that one is often able to identify the particular species of birds. This is to the most casual observer self-evident in those birds that fly close, near, or over one’s head ; but it is astonishing how, as the eye gets trained, even a faint speck high up in mid-air can be absolutely identified by some peculiarity of shape and move- ment. On Plate 2 are some half-dozen different birds depicted as in flight, to assist the reader to identify the birds he will frequently see. No. 1 is the ordinary Kite of Egypt. Seen as soon as one lands at Alexandria or Port Said: 1 1 2 EGYPTIAN BIRDS it is with us everywhere. Its most distinctive characteristics are the forked shape of its tail, and its familiarity with man, the latter leading it to have no sort of fear of flying near one, so near that its yellow beak and ever-restless eye, as it turns its head this way or that, can easily be seen, whilst its tail, moving in sympathy, sweeps it round to right or left. No. 2 is the Kestrel, or Windhover of England. As this hawk is not a devourer of carrion, but feeds on mice, lizards, beetles, and other living things, it does not usually come so near the habitations of men, and is rarely seen in the centre of cities, but on the outskirts of towns and up the country it is common enough. When seen hovering with its body hanging in mid-air, with its wings rapidly beating above its head as shown, there should be no difficulty in recognising it. Again, when flying low its rich brown-red plumage and sharp-pointed wings should be noted, and if seen dashing into some cleft of ruined masonry or rocky cliff-side it can often be identified by the incessant, penetrat- ing, squeaky call of the young in the nest, for by the time most visitors are in the country, ze. March and April, it has its young nearly fully fledged. No. 8 is a Peregrine Falcon. In general shape EGYPTIAN BIRDS 3 this is typical of all the falcons, and gives a characteristic attitude in its rushing downward swoop. The head is blunt and sunk into the shoulders, the wings are stiff, rigid, pointed and powerful, the tail straight and firm. Nos. 4 and 5 are Vultures shown flying farther away from the spectator’s eye, and consequently on a smaller scale. The black and white of the adult Egyptian Vulture, No. 4, is such a distinctive characteristic that recognition is easy, but in the case of the young bird the plumage is dirty brown and grey with faint dark streaks on it, and at that stage might be confused with Griffon Vultures, if it were not for its smaller size. In flying, the way it tucks its head in so that only its bill seems visible, and the very small tail in proportion to the wing area, are the outstanding peculiarities of this, and indeed all Vultures. No. 5 shows a distant group of Griffons, purposely placed at a distance, as on the small space of a page, if they were brought as near the eye as the other birds, they would completely cover the whole space, for they have an enormous span of wing. Note how small the tail is, and how the head is practi- cally invisible. Nos. 6 and 7 are of different orders of birds + EGYPTIAN BIRDS altogether, one being a Stork, the other the Heron. The Storks fy with outstretched neck, whilst all of the great family of Herons fly with their neck doubled up and the head rather tucked back towards the shoulders. If these seven characteristic diagrammatic pic- tures of birds are once really learnt, it will enable the most ordinary observer not only to know those particular six birds, but the whole families, meaning many scores of birds of which these are chosen as representatives. ‘The eyesight of some may need help in the form of a good field-glass. What is a good field-glass each individual must discover for him or herself, since the good glass is the one that really suits the sight of its owner. Some of the most noted glasses of to-day are not, anyhow to myself, of as much use as an old-fashioned one that I have had for years, and with which I am able at once to “get on” to the object I wish to observe. ‘This is a most important detail, because birds are rarely still or quiet for long. When flying, this is particularly the case, and the simpler the glass and its mechanism the quicker you are on the object,—and this when, perhaps, you have only a matter of seconds for your observation is of first importance. As I do not wish either to EGYPTIAN BIRDS 5 embark on a libel action on the one side, or act as an advertiser of any maker, not even of the maker of my own glass, I praise or blame none, but suggest with all earnestness to every one who desires to really enjoy the study of bird life on the Nile or in their own country, without fail to get a glass that suits them, and which they can handle with lightning speed. I dwell on this because I have met so many having most expensive modern glasses who say they cannot find any pleasure in using them on birds, and I generally find that it is owing to the small field that their glasses cover. Some- times these glasses are of quite extraordinary power, so that I have heard a man declare he could see a fly crawling over a carved face on the tip-top of some far-away temple, but that type of glass is not what is wanted for rough and ready quick field work, and it is of no more use than the three-feet long telescope still beloved by the Scotch stalkers. Birds rarely if ever allow time for one to lie down on one’s back, and with help of stout stick and the top of knee make a firm stand on which to place the glass and get the range. Over twenty-five years ago I wrote on “ Nature through a Field- glass,” and although since then one has had to alter 1 In The Art Journal. 6 EGYPTIAN BIRDS one’s views on so many different points, I do not think I would wish to alter one single word in the claim made for the value of this aid to Nature study. So many birds are such small objects, that ten or fifteen paces away they are mere spots, and very difficult to recognise, as the detail of their plumage at that distance is lost, and all you can say is, that it is some small bird, but with a glass you can have it brought up to your very eye, you can see the arrangement of the masses of the feathers, and note even the ever lifting and falling of its little crest, as it goes creeping and stealthily gliding through the twigs and bushes after its insect food. Egypt certainly is singularly fortunate in that birds here are far tamer than we find them at home, and so admit of a closer inspection; but even so, I should have been, times without number, utterly at a loss to exactly identify certain birds if it were not for my trusty glasses. There are some occasions where, owing to the extra- ordinary tameness of birds, no glasses are needed, and I recommend to all bird enthusiasts the ground within the areas under the control of the Antiquities Department. No guns are allowed there, as they are up and down the Nile, and the EGYPTIAN BIRDS () birds know it. One of my favourite places of observation was at the Sacred Lake at Karnac. By the courtesy of Mr. Weigall, Chief Inspector of Antiquities, Upper Egypt, I was allowed to sleep in a disused building by the water-side, and by that means enjoyed opportunities, which fall to the lot of few, of studying bird life from midnight to early morning, and it is astonishing the number of birds that foregather to that quiet spot. Practi- cally all night through there were sounds of birds coming or going at intervals. The calling of Coots one to another were the commonest sounds during the darkest hours; but at about 8 a.m., when I thought I could discern a little light, I would distinctly hear the “scarpe scarpe” cry of Snipe. A little later the hooting of the Eagle Owl, whom I knew had his nest up on the top of one of the end columns of the great hall, and then gradually from this side, then from that, came an ever-increasing series of calls and pipings, and one could make out flocks of Duck disappearing over the ridge of sand and broken-up masses of masonry. Later, shadowy forms of Greenshank or Plover showed as they went paddling by some faintly lighted-up pool, till at last the sun was up, and crested Larks were running round the banks fearlessly, and blue- 8 EGYPTIAN BIRDS throated warblers were hopping about the few bushes at the edge, and ever and anon flitting down to the ground and back again to the leafy shelter. The question is asked and asked, but no very distinct answer comes, why are the birds so tame in Egypt? I am ata loss to know myself, for the land teems with foxes, jackals, kites, vultures, eagles, falcons, and hawks without end, all with an eye to business, ever circling round ready to devour any unprotected thing they can lay claws upon, and yet this seemingly utter fearlessness of all these mild-natured, defenceless little birds. Further, here in Egypt are perhaps more “demon boys” than are to be found elsewhere, and I hold firmly with the ancient sage, who said “that of all savage beasts the boy is the worst,” so that the tameness of some of Egypt’s birds is one more mystery of this land of mysteries. In the following pages I have almost entirely spoken of the particular birds pictured in the illustrations. I am quite prepared for the question, however, ‘‘ But why did you not include such and such a bird?” and my defence can only be the old one of the difficulty of settling various person’s ideas of what should be considered the best EGYPTIAN BIRDS 9 representative list of anything—whether it be birds, books, or pretty women. It must also be remem- bered that Egypt proper—the area alone treated upon in these pages—begins at Alexandria and ends at Assoan, a stretch of country of about 525 miles, whilst the breadth may be anything from fifty miles to less than one. From that area our selection has had to be mainly confined, and _ it has meant excluding a certain number of very beautiful and interesting forms. Bird lovers should remember that when the, at first, seemingly rather extortionate demand of 120 piastres is made, before they are given the card which admits them to the temples, tombs, and areas under the control of the Antiquities Department, they are, in a very important way, really helping on the preservation of birds, for, as already has been said, on no ground under the control of the Department are birds allowed to be shot, and as these spots are the very ones in all Egypt most visited, it is very necessary, aS amongst the thousands of tourists that are made familiar with the fact that wild duck, snipe, and waders were very tame at these places, there would always be some unsportsman- like guns, who would seize the opportunity of 2 10 EGYPTIAN BIRDS going to those very places. ‘Then no longer would the hooting of owls be heard in the ruins, no swallows nesting in the rock-hewn tombs, and no coot and wildfowl would ever be seen on the small sheets of water or sacred lakes that adjoin the temples. That all these birds are there means a very great added interest to these places to every one, and to some of us bird enthusiasts the living interest is greater than that which we can whip up for those heavy, severe, architectural achieve- ments, or wild chaotic masses of ruined masonry. Elsewhere the point of the scarcity of bird life in the hot summer months has been spoken of, but it is also curious to note that there are just about three to five weeks of mid-winter during which there is no migratory wave seemingly going on at all, up or down the Nile valley. No bands, great or small, of birds heading due north or due south are ever to be seen, and the remark is often made on the paucity of bird life, some persons even declaring that it is “a birdless land.” That the native birds are very small in number is true, but the total number of birds, and varieties of birds, that come for a time and pass on is very great. Those that live in temperate climes do, however, have the best of the deal, as it must ever be a greater gt er a a, A VIEW ON THE NILE NEAR . snsten ee a oo sf ys : ' EGYPTIAN BIRDS 1s possession to have the birds nesting around one than merely passing by in migrating flights, be those flights as amazing as they may. Birds, from what- ever reason is not certainly known, do not love the excessively hot or cold areas as breeding-places, but do seem to love the more moderate temperate climes. In Great Britain the number of birds that will and do breed within a very small tract of ground is amazing, and Mr. Kearton tells of a small copse in Hertfordshire in which were the nests, with eggs or young, of nine different species of birds, all within fifty yards of one another; and in another case, within a space of ten yards, were a tit’s, a flycatcher’s, and a wood wren’s nest. In Egypt, the number of birds breeding is not large, and excepting some of the great lakes with their margins of shallow water and swampy reeds, there are few places that offer any attractions for birds to nest in any numbers. In the groves of palms you do get many doves building in close proximity with kites and crows, and along certain stretches of the Nile banks large colonies of sand-martins build, but with these exceptions the fact remains that this country has not a large list of birds breeding in any numbers. In the great lakes of Lower Egypt and the Fayoum there are, however, 12 EGYPTIAN BIRDS enormous areas of some of the best feeding-grounds imaginable for water-fowl, and the fowl know it; nowhere can be seen more variety of duck, and herons, and waders, and shore birds, than at Lake Menzaleh. Elsewhere, I have already referred to my visit in March and April to this little known part of Egypt, and I wish that those who say this is “a birdless land,” would only go and stay a few days at Kantara, Matariya, Damietta or Port Said, and then see if they could still call it “‘birdless.” The extreme north and east side of the lake is separated only from the Mediterranean by a narrow bank of sand. Its waters are brackish, the Nile contributes but little to its bulk, and the opinion is largely held that if it could be made to contribute more, the food supply for the fish in it would be consider- ably increased, to the very great benefit of the fish supply of the country. Every village and town on the lake has many fishermen with boats out night and day. ‘They catch a very large quantity, but it is said every year the size of the fish caught is steadily decreasing, and to increase the food-supply for the fish is now the aim of the authorities. This matter does not immediately affect the birds, as they love the small fry, but if Lake Menzaleh were to once lose its value as a supplier of profitable fish food, EGYPTIAN BIRDS 13 it might come to pass that some future engineer would turn his attention to this great area of waste water, and turn it into profitable cultivated ground, and then the birds would be driven away here as completely as they were in England when our fens and meres were drained to make good corn land. Therefore, this proposal to let in more Nile water is of much importance to Menzaleh remaining the great stronghold of bird life in Egypt. At present the spectacle it presents of its crowds of birds seen under the almost constant blue sky, is one that all would be very sorry to lose. The Flamingo come as its crowning glory, but the list of birds is long, and Mr. M. J. Nicoll tells how in only one week’s stay, at Gheit-el-Nassara, on the north-west side of the lake, he met with no less than eighty- seven species. The ordinary visitor to Egypt hurries away from Alexandria or Port Said, but any who love Nature ought to leave a few days for places other than the Nile, if they are to obtain anything at all like a complete knowledge of Egyptian Birds. THE GRIFFON VULTURE’ Gyps fulvus Arabic, Rakham. Head and neck bare of fine feathers, but covered with short white down. Lower part of the neck surrounded by a ruff of long, thin, lance-shaped feathers, generally but not always white ; sometimes it is buffish, sometimes rich rufous ; wings at shoulders are light greyish brown, getting darker to nearly black on the large flight feathers. Breast and flanks grey, brown under tail-coverts a brighter burnt-sienna tone. Legs dull grey; base of beak yellow. Young birds are gen- erally duller and lighter coloured than adults. Length, 48 inches, but individuals vary greatly. Tuis is the Vulture so constantly depicted on the monuments of Egypt, and I do not think that any one has ever raised the slightest doubt of its identity ; but the same can hardly be said of all the birds thereon figured. 1 EAGLES, VULTURES, HAWKS Many different arrangements have been made of the order in which birds should be placed, some placing one, others, another family first, and the wise men are even yet not all agreed, so that the old-time method has been adopted of beginning with the birds of prey, since it is probably the order with which the ordinary reader is most familiar. Eagles are not common, and though in the complete list of Egyptian birds the names of four are given, it is hardly likely to be a bird seen, whilst Vultures and Kites, and certain Hawks, most certainly will be. 14 rf yi me ig THE GRIFFON VULTURE 15 Mr. Howard Carter, whose long connection with the work of the Antiquities of Egypt gives him the right to speak with authority, is now preparing for publication a book on this whole subject of the portrayal of animal life by Egyptian art, which is awaited with great interest, as he has given years of study to this one branch; and though I may ven- Z ture to say something now and again of the present-day birds, and their pictured present- ments in temples or tombs, the reader will do well to wait till Mr. Carter's book is published before com- GYPS FULVUS—GRIFFON VULTURE. ing to too positive From a monument of Nectanebo in the Louvre. a conclusion on a rather vexed subject. Of the Vulture there is no doubt, but of which of the existing hawks was the model of the Hawk almost as frequently depicted as the Vulture few are agreed, and personally I can arrive at no very satisfactory conclusion. The Griffon Vulture is common now, and probably always has been. Its usefulness is 16 EGYPTIAN BIRDS undeniable, and it practically does no harm. It takes no toll of lambs or kids, and I never have heard of it snatching up the smallest of chickens. Its food is entirely carrion with the addition, possibly, of an occasional lizard or small snake. Vultures and Kites together are the very best of workmen, for the work they undertake they do absolutely thoroughly. No one has to go after them and clear up what they leave half-done, for they never leave anything half-done, be it a dead camel, or ten dead donkeys, or a mass of putrid offal from the shambles. They come; they see; they swallow; and not one speck or scrap of flesh or sinew will be left to-morrow on all those snow-white bones, and not the slightest sign of any- thing that can putrefy will even stain the ground ; all is cleared away, and all corrupting danger gone by the time they have flown. ‘They will remain all night through and the next day, if the job is a big one, and never dream of charging overtime! It is doubtless this that makes the natives of Eastern countries so unspeakably careless, as we think, of all sanitary precautions. They know that they need take no trouble; in a matter of hours, days at most, these winged scavengers will come, save them all bother and trouble, and clear the THE GRIFFON VULTURE 17 mess away. It is also this, one is disposed to think, and this alone, that is at the bottom of what to us seems an amazing fact, that they never destroy birds, so that even birds whose travels take them out of Egypt for a season, returning, know that here anyhow they will not be molested, and show themselves familiarly where in other countries they would exhibit the very opposite tendency. Of late years a change has undoubtedly taken place in some birds owing to the ever-increasing number of visitors, many of whom come with guns determined to get specimens. Birds are not fools, and the great Griffon in particular seems to have learnt that it behoves him to have a care, and distrust the too near approach of the white man who may desire to possess his great wings to mount as trophies: and one has heard of its becoming quite a difficult matter to get within range of these grand birds. Grand birds they are indeed when seen on the wing fairly near. When far up in mid-air they strike your imagination as mysterious, marvellous masters of the air, but see them close enough to make out their very feathers, and then no other word comes to your lips but, “What grand birds!” All the sleepy, dull, heavy look that they have when clumsily 3 18 EGYPTIAN BIRDS walking, half hopping, on the ground, or when sitting huddled up, at once disappears, and you acclaim the Griffon the king of flying things. A sea-gull, a swallow, an eagle, and many another, are all splendid in their graceful mastery over, and use of, the air we live in, but for sheer majesty of dominion I know no equal to the great Griffon Vulture. One has often seen it on the sand-banks by the river's side, sitting perhaps, either dozing after a gorge or waiting for the late lamented to reach just that nice point which means dinner-time. Sometimes they mildly squabble amongst them- selves; sometimes they advance open-mouthed on some late arrival who comes swooping down with feet and legs stretched out well in front of him. But on the whole, I think, after its flight, its one outstanding virtue is its sociability. We none of us quite like that person who shuns his fellows, and was never known to have any gather- ing of friends even in simplest social fashion, and with birds there are some of those selfish kinds who prefer to live alone and feed alone, and absolutely resent any attempted sociability. But the Vulture, in spite of his rather forbidding face, is a downright sociable creature. On many a time one has seen Egyptian Vultures feeding with a THE GRIFFON VULTURE 19 dozen of their bigger cousins, who, when themselves well fed, have allowed even the despised crows to have some pickings from the feast. Being tied up to a bank for two or three days during the Hamseen wind, which was blowing a perfect gale right in our teeth, I saw a curious sight of Vultures turning themselves into a sort of coroner’s jury on a dead buffalo. In the centre of a little sheltered bay was the ‘dear departed,” who was being closely examined and overhauled by a gaunt, sandy-coloured native dog. There he sat like a coroner growling out his observations, whilst the twelve—there were just a dozen Vultures—sat placidly waiting their turn for a closer study of the remains. They sat so long and patiently that one was surprised they did not end the matter in force, drive away the presiding officer, and get to real business, but we left them still waiting and seemingly discuss- ing what was to be the verdict. Whenever one has been taken to see a Vulture in captivity, either in hotel or other gardens, it has usually been this, the Griffon Vulture, that has been the unhappy captive. THE EGYPTIAN VULTURE Neophron percnopterus Racham, Arabic White all over body, wings black, a curious fringe of long feathers round the head ; these sometimes get stained a more or less strong yellow; bare parts round eye and beak, yellow. Legs pinky, eyes carmine red, but Shelley says they do not get the full red eye till their fourth year. Entire length, 27 inches. Tuis vulture, as shown by the above description, is markedly different from the great Griffon Vul- ture, and there can be no possible mistake in re- cognising it. From the tail-piece, which is taken from a painting of one on the inside of a wooden outside coffin casing, one can easily see the pecu- liarities of this bird ; and at Deir-el-Bahari there are many painted examples showing the bird more or less in its natural colours, the bright yellow of the bill is shown, and the dark wings are rendered in a dull green. Why they should render one colour by another seems strange, but here again we must wait till Mr. Howard Carter gives us his explana- tion of this and the many other points he is still patiently working out. The wonderful way in 20 oe Ny ie : r Ae TIAN VULTU! i A EGYPTIAN me iw ig ae ‘ win: aes mo DN " in bi. THE EGYPTIAN VULTURE 21 which the vultures assemble directly there is anything in the way of carrion has been often noticed : they will appear where a moment before there was not one to be seen either on the earth or in the blue vault. And this was at one time regarded as one of the wonders of the bird world; but as is so often the case, more exact knowledge rather reduces the marvellous. The habit of vultures is to fly at a very great height and to keep circling round ; each bird prac- tically keeps to one area, another takes a great sweeping circle adjoining ; and others all the way round are in the same fashion, ever circling on the look-out. The moment one discerns anything down he swoops; this is instantly observed by the bird on the adjoining beat, and down he rushes; this again is repeated indefinitely, and so in a few minutes a dozen or more vultures may be there at the find where before were none. The circles that each make are frequently very large, perhaps many miles; it can easily be imagined, therefore, what a large area can be covered, and covered most minutely, by, say, half a dozen birds. The young are very different in plumage, being a rather dirty grey- brown all over, with brown eyes, and they retain this peculiarity till their fourth year, when they get 22 EGYPTIAN BIRDS the white and black plumage. But they somehow always look untidy birds. This perhaps holds good of all vultures when sitting in repose ; their wings seem to be too loose jointed, and they hang their feathers so as to give the impression that they are not firmly fixed in and might fall out, but the moment they spring into the air their wings gain at once a sort of rigidity, and all the sloppy, untidy effect disappears. This bird is certainly more often seen than the preceding, since it is not afraid of the haunts of man; but one is not at all certain that it is really commoner. In all the representa- tions of this as of other birds, the old Egyptian artists have a curious habit of depicting their birds with their legs stretched out too far in front, and looking as if the bird were in danger of falling over backwards. Once as we were drifting by a bit of sand-bank, the river being very low, I remember well an awful- looking, unrecognisable object, dirty, dishevelled, ”° and, as children say, “very bluggy,” coming towards us over the skyline. It more resembled some poor drunk man who had been fighting and had got fearfully knocked about, and what bird it was, if bird at all, we knew not. Well, this dilapi- dated-looking thing walked slowly down the slope THE EGYPTIAN VULTURE 23 to the water's edge; then we saw it had been having a real gorge; it was hideously rotund, and had apparently been living inside “the joint” until, sick with repletion, unable to fly, its very feathers clogged with gore, it made its way down to refreshen and clean itself, which when done, to our surprise it turned out to be just a common Egyptian Vulture. Why the Vultures are featherless on neck and head is told in an old story in Curzon’s Monasteries of the Levant. King Solomon, according to this account, was journeying in the heat of the day. “The fiery beams were beginning to scorch his neck and shoulders when he saw a flock of vultures flying past. ‘O Vultures!’ cried King Solomon, ‘come and fly between me and the sun, and make a shadow with your wings to protect me, for its rays are scorching my neck and face.’ But the Vultures would not, so the King lifted up his voice and cursed them, and told them that as they would not obey, ‘The feathers of your neck shall fall off, and the heat of the sun, and the cold of the winter, and the keenness of the wind, and the beating of the rain, shall fall upon your rebellious necks, which shall not be protected like other birds. And whereas you have hitherto fared 24 EGYPTIAN BIRDS delicately, henceforth ye shall eat carrion and feed upon offal ; and your race shall be impure till the end of the world.’ And it was done unto the Vultures as King Solomon had said.” Figs. 3 anp 4. Drawing from a painting of a Hawk at Karnak, to show the overlap of the wing feathers. THE KESTREL Falco tinnunculus The male has the upper plumage of head, back, and wings red-brown, spotted and barred with black; under-parts buff with black spots on flanks, and which on breast are smaller and closer together, making long lines. Rump and tail blue- grey, barred with black, one broad bar at end of tail tipped with pure white, base of bill and legs yellow, eyes brown. The female is without the blue-grey, and is more evenly brown all over, with spots and bars on the tail. Length, 13°5 inches. Tus is the commonest Hawk, and nests in nearl Nf all the ruins of temples and old buildings up and 25 d 26 EGYPTIAN BIRDS down the land, and, as already stated, the young are often to be heard when they cannot be seen, calling with their incessant squeaky voice for their devoted parents. The parents are to be seen searching for food, hovering over the fields in the same way that they do at home, for this bird is the familiar Windhover (see Plate II.). The quantity of mice that it consumes is enormous, and of lizards, beetles, and particularly locusts, it also takes toll. So that though it does not do the useful work that the Kites are doing day by day, it still clears the land of what would otherwise be grave scourges, The Kestrel is one of the birds of which large quantities of mummies have been found, and it was clearly treated with quite sacred rites, lending colour to the views of some that this is the original of the Hawk so frequently pictured and sculptured. ‘This question is one, however, that as doctors disagree upon, it is not for a layman to venture judgment; but several of the best pre- served specimens of wall-paintings at Deir-el- Bahari in their drawing suggest much more the shape of a long-legged Sparrow Hawk than the compact Kestrel. ‘The colouring of these pictures is so different, sometimes one part of a bird will be THE KESTREL Q7 in red, in others it will be green. We are told, however, that this is all right and they both are right; this is something of a mystery and passes my own comprehension. The view is certainly possible that these ancient artists never thought any future race of mankind would come worrying round to know what particular specific kind of bird was meant, they alone desiring to give a rendering of a typical Hawk. Honestly admiring the fine work of these old artists, I yet retain my own liberty to point out what is wrong, and the accompanying illustrations show a very glaring error which is repeated over and over again, a thousand times, throughout the temples and tombs of the country. Fig. 3 shows the two wings of a painted hawk at Karnak; the right wing shows the outside, the left the inside of the wing. In the right wing the feathers are shown with their front edge lapping over/ the hind edge of )the feather next in front. This gives a certain strength to the whole surface of the wing- area needed for flight, and if that be an accurate representation of the outside of a Hawk’s wing in nature, and it is, then it follows that the inside surface would show the reverse; that is to say, the free edge of each feather would show over- 28 EGYPTIAN BIRDS lapping the feather next behind it, as shown in figures Nos. 4 and 5. But Fig. 3 shows how the ancients thought birds should have their feathers placed, back and front, both identical. In all humility, I have once or twice pointed this out to devout Egyptologists, but they pass it over. “A Fie. 5. Drawing of the primary quills of a Hawk, from Nature. Seen from the under surface to show the overlap of the feathers. mere convention,” they say; ‘‘they always render wings so; worship, worship !” Mr. J. H. Gurney says that Egyptian Kestrels are certainly bolder than the British, and that he has “seen one swoop at a Booted Eagle,” and another “feather a Hooded Crow which ventured too near its nest.” He also draws attention to its size, and I think that it is certainly frequently of smaller dimensions than those at home; indeed, on THE KESTREL 29 the score of size, it is not easy to distinguish it from the Lesser Kestrel. There are two Kestrels in Egypt: the one we have already described, and the Lesser Kestrel, which is like a small edition of the former, with the exception that his back and wings of bright red-brown are without spots, and the breast is only marked with small black spots, while the claws are yellowish white. Its length is 11°5 inches. When seen flying it is well-nigh impossible to identify it from the larger species, and I have heard of cases of men having shot what they thought was the Common Kestrel, and finding to their astonishment that it was the much rarer Lesser Kestrel. Its food consists mainly of insects and beetles, but it varies this stock diet with mice. I have seen it sitting im a cleft of the wall of the Ramaseum and other temples, but it is by no means a common bird. It nests commonly in the ruins and temples, and on the high cliffs, and its young can be oftener heard than seen, as they utter a very penetrating squeak, squeak, squeak call. THE PARASITIC KITE OR EGYPTIAN KITE Milvus aegyptius Arabic, Hiddayer Plumage—Head and neck grey; back and wings dark brown, under parts a rufous brown, the edges of the feathers lighter than the centres, which have a dusky streak, whilst the tail is broadly barred. Cere and legs yellow. Tuis Kite, which is seen everywhere, is not the Kite which we have accounts of as being once common in England, and which could be seen long years ago flying round St. Paul’s Cathedral; but it is a true Egyptian native. I have it from men who have lived long in Egypt, through summer as well as winter, that in the really hot months this bird is practically the only feathered fowl one ever does see during those glaring months. There may be other birds left in the country, but you do not see them; they wisely keep out of sight in whatever isolated shaded place they can find. The Kite alone bears the full glare of that-broiling sun, ever on the look out for every chance of a mouth- ful of any decaying nastiness it can secure, and 30 tf ol s I : , ‘ + ee ad thes 1 ‘a ete ¥. “e *) »@4 boi Mf & ob 5 yr wr ar Di) x 7 ; @ ,. ty - ae os. Ha oh . as ‘x ‘ ee r oar ar EGYPTIAN KITE ean a : iy py Red Li is ; Tue ia ¢ : “? J a : ‘ 1 : hal ¥ ai ; 7 i oo ae =a iy a ‘7 _ a j ee u THE PARASITIC KITE 31 in this is the secret of its privileged position ; unmolested even in the busiest haunts of men, secure in crowded city or up-country village, its services aS scavenger are invaluable, and when every other bird has fled it never for a day quits its post or ceases its labours. We will spare the reader a detailed menu of this omnivorous bird, but all who visit Egypt ought to bless it, as until some enlightened system of sanitation is adopted, this bird, almost unaided, makes the land possible to live in, or to be visited with any safety or pleasure. If it were exterminated as the Kites have been in Great Britain, it is almost impossible to exaggerate what would be the dire results to the health of the newcomers to this old Eastern country. Mercifully there seems no sort of chance of its numbers decreasing. Indeed, in 1908 I saw behind the New Winter Palace Hotel at Luxor, a flock which certainly ran into hundreds ; two dead donkeys thrown out behind the walls of the Hotel grounds were the cause of this vast congregation. They never leave a shred of anything more than the bones, picked as clean and white as the paper this is printed on; they tidy it all up, and for days after the main body of birds have left, a stray bird or two comes sweeping down 32 EGYPTIAN BIRDS to see if there is any tiny scrap of flesh, or skin, or sinew left hidden away under stone or sand. On several occasions I have seen Kites bathing in the water, so presumably, although they are called unclean birds, they are in reality as cleanly as most. As far as personal observation goes I should call the Swifts and Swallows the dirtiest birds ; anyhow they are more infested with odious parasites than any other birds I have handled. Kites build un- tidy, clumsy nests of sticks; rubbish, rags, and even bits of newspapers are to be sometimes found hanging on the outside: they are generally placed in the upper boughs of some high tree, and in many of the gardens in the centre of squares in Cairo you can watch them bringing food to their squealing young. They breed very early, and often they have a brood hatched by the end of January. There is something very fascinating in watch- ing their flight, it seems so easy and strong, and from its complete fearlessness it approaches so near the spectator that the movement of the tail as it turns to right or left can be seen acting as a well-directed rudder. As already stated, Pliny says it was observing this that gave man his first idea of how to steer his boats and ships. And P z 7. . eh ‘ia ul \ af i ‘ ; ; / 4 ae fa3 i ze . i i THOM Yi ea fi + « i ‘ Pa Bhs = Ss a Py ra - | 7 Q THE PARASITIC KITE 33 the frequent stooping of the head down to the food it holds in its feet is another interesting action that can be watched clearly without the aid of field-glasses, as it passes close overhead. 'The tail of the young is not so forked as in the adult, and the general plumage duller coloured all over. The Black Kite, Milvuus migrans, is said to be a very rare bird in Egypt, but I certainly think it is commoner than some imagine. It is very similar in general appearance to the last, and unless seen very near is hard to identify. On 13th January 1908 I was fortunate, however, in seeing some three or four at the river-side at Karnak, beaten down low by a high wind, with completely black beaks and very dark rich black-brown plumage. Mr. Erskine Nicol, who was with me, also noted them. Shelley says, “The general shade of the plumage is blacker. The dark streaks down the centres of feathers on throat and crop are broader than in the Egyptian Kite, and the bill is entirely black.” Length, 23:3 inches. BARN OWL WHITE OWL, SCREECH OWL Strix flammea Arabic, Boma buda Plumage of upper-parts a tawny yellow, mottled, speckled, and pencilled with delicate grey, black and white ; face white, as are the under-parts; individuals vary in being lighter or darker ; buffish-white on chest, feet pinkish, beak yellowish. Entire length, 13°5 inches. Erruer of the two last English names are perhaps in this case more suitable than the first, as barns in Egypt are scarce, whilst this owl is common, and is met with in temples and tombs fairly frequently. In the past it must always have been a common bird, as it is one of the few quite easily identified birds used in hieroglyphics (in spite of which, to my astonishment, in a recent work on Egypt this owl is called the Horned Owl). The Barn Owl has practically a world-wide range, being found not only in Europe but Africa, Asia, Australia, and America, and though examples from certain localities do show some variation in plumage, it is still always unmistakably the Barn Owl. It 34 id BARN-OWL ~ = a | aa) : ‘< « ie OR - ae SERS YES BARN OWL, WHITE OWL, SCREECH OWL 35 is, however, not met with within the Arctic Circle. At home its food is nearly entirely mice, but in Egypt it has no hedgerows to hunt, no large farm- yards and rich granaries, and though it does get some mice it has to take lizards, an occasional small bird, and sometimes fish, or even scraps of carrion. Of all the owls this has the softest, most silent flight, and this in itself is somewhat uncanny as it quite quietly passes close to you, and then dis- appears in the gloom, from which a little later may come a terrifying screech as of a strangled infant. There is little room for wonder, then, that all simple folk should have regarded this bird as evil-omened : and the old Scriptures have many references in this spirit when describing places haunted, desolated, the “abode of owls and dragons.” ‘To this day, in our own country, the feeling is evinced most strangely in spite of all our modern education. Very cleverly the early Egyptians caught the most salient feature—the extraordinary large mask- like face—and in some of the wall decorations at Deir-el-Bahari, which are in perfect preservation, it would be well-nigh impossible to improve on them as exact portraits of the Barn Owl. A possible cause of the choice of this bird is that it is one of the best-known species: for of all the 36 EGYPTIAN BIRDS owls this one is quite peculiar in its habit of rather courting than flying from the haunts of man; for though it is in the ruins of temples it is also to be found in the thick foliage near villages and towns, and has even been noticed flying about in the very heart of Cairo in the Ezbekeir Gardens, as recorded by Mr. J. H. Gurney in his Rambles of a Naturalist—and the habit of attaching itself to human habitations is universal wherever it is met the world round. The Barn Owl has a custom which those who suffer from indigestion may well envy, and that is its power of disgorging, after every meal, all the indigestible portions of its dinner in a compact, round, hard pellet, about the size of a nut: and from under some of its roosting-places great basketsfull of these pellets have been collected, and men of science analyzing these have obtained therefrom the most precise information as to the diet of this much-persecuted bird. From such observations the value of its services in our own country were rather tardily recognised. But now that it is established that nine-tenths of its food consists of mice and rats, the law of the land has been invoked to protect it. Lord Lilford writes on the extraordinary appetite of young owls, that BARN OWL, WHITE OWL, SCREECH OWL 37 “IT have seen a young Barn Owl take down nine full-grown mice one after another till the tail of the ninth stuck out of his mouth, and in three hours’ time the young ‘ gourmand’ was crying out for more.” Fie. 6. From Deir-el-Bahari. THE LITTLE OWL Carine meridionalis Plumage—A plain greyish-brown with dark markings and spots on the breast; eyes yellow. Entire length, 8°5 inches. THe Little ; Owl is a common bird, but it is not, when flying, very owl-like in appearance ; and doubtless it is very often seen and not recognised as an owl at all, especially as it flies freely in the daytime, and I have even seen it sitting facing the sun on some wooden trellis-work in a garden at mid-day ; and not only once, but morning after morning it could be seen enjoying the warmth. This peculiarity, the very opposite of what we find in most owls, has led to an awkward position in some parts of England—for in certain of the Midland counties this owl is rapidly be- coming a perfect scourge. Some distinguished naturalists in Northamptonshire and other counties thought it would be good to introduce this undoubtedly rather fascinating bird from the Continent—where it is common—into the British Isles—where it was very rare—so year after year 38 LITTLE OWL THE LITTLE OWL 39 they obtained large numbers of these owls, and liberated them in the hope that they would breed and multiply. Their hopes have been more than justified, for they did at once settle down and increase ; they passed first from the county they were liberated in to the adjoming county of Huntingdon ; then, spreading over that, they ex- tended their area into Cambridgeshire, then on into Suffolk, Essex, Norfolk. Every one was at first delighted, and keepers were given strict injunctions on no account to worry the new- comers ; but gradually the keepers’ faces began to get long, and first one and then another reported strange stories of depleted coops shortly after the foster-hen was put out into the open with her family of ten or more young birds. Ornithologists were scandalised at these stories—an owl take a young game-bird: impossible !—but what is im- possible in the eyes of men of science has turned out to be a fact, and this charming-looking Little Owl is found to be one of the worst vermin on the whole list which vexes the soul of the game preserver. For it is just this, that at the very time the young pheasants or hand-reared partridges are put out, the Little Owl has its own little family to feed; the foster-mother, the hen, being 40 EGYPTIAN BIRDS always kept shut in the coop, the little puff-balls of pheasants, as they are in those early days, run in and out between the bars, and once outside are, of course, without protection. The Owl has noticed this fact, and it may be seen sitting on the top of the coop watching till one of the little birds is conveniently near, and down it swoops and carries it away for its own family’s dinner; this it will repeat time after time till it has cleared off the whole lot. This can only happen, of course, when the young pheasants are very very small—a few days old—and hand-reared, for if they were out and about with their own mother—or in the case of partridges their own father—they would be safe, as neither would allow such an impudent attack to be made without going for the murderous marauder. It has only been after years and years of persistent effort that gamekeepers have been induced to learn that all ordinary owls flying at night-time—when all young birds are safe under their mothers’ wings—are harmless, and that from the good they do in clearing off hundreds of mice and young rats, should be, and must be, protected. They are now protected; but this newcomer arrives — not an ordinary night owl at all—and the whole THE LITTLE OWL 41 position is changed, and years of teaching will be thrown to the winds, as it will be hard indeed to persuade the average thick-headed keeper that he was not right all along, and that every owl of every sort ought to be shot at sight and nailed to the pole. So much for benevolent intentions of increasing the variety of a country’s fauna. Nearly always it is best not to interfere with Nature’s order, and the rabbit pest in Australia, and the sparrows in America, are already known to most as illustrations of this fact. The Little Owl makes a quaint pet, and thrives well in confinement; its antics and poses are really droll, and the big eyes look at you with a seeming deep intelligence. This is the owl, by the way, that, by the ancient Greeks, was made sacred to Pallas Athene and used as a symbol of wisdom ; furthermore, it was engraved on many of their coins. In Egypt it is everywhere—in town and country, in ruined temples, dismal tombs, and gardens bright with flowers and sunshine. I have seen it sittmg on the upright poles of shadoofs, and on the tops of high stalks of growing maize, and once I saw it, in broad daylight, on the back of a recumbent buffalo. 6 EGYPTIAN EAGLE OWL Bubo ascalaphus Arabic, Buma Plumage a rich buff-brown, with darker markings of black, brown, and grey. Large wing-feathers and tail broadly barred with blackish brown; chin and upper throat white ; under-plumage bright golden buff, with blotches and streaks on the flanks ; beak black; eyes of most intense flame-like orange. ‘Total length, 20 inches. Tuis name Eagle Owl is almost more imposing than the bird itself, as, though large, it is much smaller than the Eagle Owl of Europe. It is to be found in some of the very largest of the temples, ruined or otherwise, but, as far as my own knowledge goes, not in many of the smaller buildings. Its principal haunts are the steep cliff-like sides of the hills and mountains. When staying in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings, every night regularly as the sun sank behind the ridge, the first weird “ Booom” rang out, soon to be answered by another similar call from another part of the hills, and then, soon and silently, there floated past the big dull brown form. Sailing away to the opposite side, with my glasses 42 a 5 ° ra <) to} < Q a 2 & a. ~ Oo Ps EGYPTIAN EAGLE OWL 43 I could see it stretch out its legs forward as it settled on to some favourite ledge of rock, and turning its great head round, so that I could see its glorious coloured eyes, would utter a still louder booming challenge. This was so absolutely regular that when working I knew exactly where certain purple-blue shadows would be across the face of the otherwise golden cliff-side, when I heard its first call. Twice I had one in cap- tivity ; one died, but the other seemed to recover so well from a damaged wing, that as soon as I had finished the studies needed, I decided to let it go free, and let it out; but, stupefied by confinement, or else because the wing was not really strong enough to make flight easy, it only hopped and walked about in a rather aimless way, and was in danger of being attacked by the dogs of our camp. So I had to catch, and in my arms carry my captive right high up the Deir-el-Bahari cliffs—and any that have been there know what that means—and at a safe place near a cleft I had often seen them at, set it free; neither then, nor during my toil up that cliff was I rewarded by the slightest sign of gratitude ; on the contrary, hissing viciously and clawing right and left with its big talons, intent 44 EGYPTIAN BIRDS on doing me serious damage, my prisoner strove with me. That was in the evening; very early the next day I went right up the same place, and as there were no feathers or other marks of murder, I sincerely hope the poor bird got safely away to some sheltering cave, there to be welcomed by wife or husband, as the case might be, and regaled with great store of such food as Eagle Owls love. When with me, sardines, scraps of meat, and bits of bony chicken were readily eaten, but a great dislike was shown to being watched at meals. THE HOOPOE Upupa epops Arabic, Hud Hud Head and crest rich rusty orange ; the tips of feathers of crest black; the neck and chest rufous changing to a pink hue on breast ; wings and tail black with broad white parallel bars; under-parts buff to white; legs brown; beak black ; eyes brown. Length, 12 inches. THE hoop-hoop-hoop cry of this bird is almost as curiously attractive as its varied plumage and magnificent crest. You see it everywhere, and it loves the haunts of man. It is not well to know too much of one’s heroes, and it certainly is well not to know too much of the habits of some of the wild children of the earth and air. The repulsive- ness of the menu of the Hoopoe is enough to make one put one’s pen through its name and never mention it. But it is not always feeding, and when walking about in stately fashion on some mud wall, lifting its great circular crown of feathers ever and again, whilst it utters its call-name hoop-hoop- hoopoe, it is so picturesque and charming one has to pass its nasty little peculiarities by. We have to do this frequently with our own unfeathered 45 46 EGYPTIAN BIRDS friends for the good we presume they possess, and there is much that is good in this perky little bird. Time was, it is said, when the Hoopoe had no crest, and he only got one granted by royal favour. The king of those days was importing a new bride from Asia, and decided to have her met at the port on the Red Sea where she landed, with unusual pomp. His army was to go down and escort her to the royal city, and all the birds of the air were instructed also to wait her arrival and form a flying sunshade with their wings, and fan the air with their pinions, whilst all should fill the heavens with their sweet songs—and thus she should come. The birds agreed, all but the Hoopoe. He objected, he knew something about the lady, and he wouldn't consent to go. Saying he would rather not, he flew away to a cave in some far-away mountain in the desert. When the king heard of this he was very wroth. Anyhow, he had the culprit sent for, and now the poor Hoopoe is brought before his enraged majesty, but so bravely did he comport himself, and so well did he defend his position, showing that if he did that for which he had conscientious objec- tions, he would suffer grave moral and intellectual damage, and therefore it was with all respect he begged to be excused. His Majesty was so amazed + eoeaue Mihi. 4 Rt 7 yy HOOPOE oe a. ° nt vo n 3 ) = = THE LITTLE GREEN BEE-EATER 55 swoops down on its prey and then back again to its perch to enjoy its food. This it will continue to do by the hour together, till, first stretching out one wing and leg, and then the other, it decides to set out for pastures new, and with an easy, long, sweeping flight, rising and then falling, it disappears from view. It is a very tame little bird, and is met with literally everywhere; but it is undoubtedly most fond of the wells with a few trees growing round them, or the gardens or palm-groves. I do not remember to have seen one actually on the ground, in which matter it is similar to all very short-legged birds, and its legs are very short. It is a melancholy fact to have to record that it is far too often shot by visitors; and worse, some- times now native boys catch it for the delectation of tourists, and, tying a bit of string round its legs, hold it as if it were perching naturally on their hands. They then offer it to tourists as a tame, pet bird, and I fear the tourist too often buys of them, for otherwise these utterly mercenary little rascals would not indulge in this traffic. Needless to say the poor bird always dies—indeed, is more often than not half-dead when in the boy’s hand, as its half-glazed eye only too plainly shows. 56 EGYPTIAN BIRDS One hardly knows how to cure this cruelty, for the humane nearly always rebuke the boy, give him a piastre or two, and liberate the bird, and pass on thinking they have done a good deed. The bird can only flutter feebly away, and the boy of course re-catches it and goes through the same performance with the next kind-hearted, foolish visitor. It is with regret I write it, but I do not in the least now believe in the Egyptian’s love for birds, or anything other than backsheesh. Why the birds are or were so universally tame is not because of their kindliness, but simply because of their apathy. The moment it dawns on them that there is anything to be made out of birds or any other lovely thing they are as brutal as the very worst British hooligan. I have sometimes seen Bee-eaters in the ruins and temples, and in this connection it is interesting to recall that there is a very good representation of one flying, in the celebrated series of pictures of the expedition to Punt at Deir-el-Bahari, the only case I can remember of a Bee-eater being so represented. It is entirely insectivorous, and is one of the many birds which ought, in this insect-infested country, to be strictly preserved, for it is appalling to think what an unbearable land this would be for us thin- THE LITTLE GREEN BEE-EATER 57 skinned people if the teeming clouds of flies and mosquitoes were not held in some check by these industrious birds, which are all day long steadily trying to reduce their numbers. By modern naturalists the Common Swift is not placed along with the Swallow, but comes near the Bee-eaters and Nightjars, and I therefore place my notes on this bird at this point. When I arrived early in October 1907 at Deir-el- Bahari, I saw thousands upon thousands of Swifts flying round in never-ending circles, and all, as far as I was able to identify them, the same Swift that goes shrieking its weird song down every town and village in rural England. Night after night, in the wonderful glow that follows the actual sunset, I used to go to the top of the great cliffs that over- hang Queen Hatashu’s temple, where round me raced here, there, and everywhere, these great clouds of birds, sometimes so near me, as I sat quietly hidden m a niche of the rocks, that I could easily have knocked them down with a stick; whilst others were high, high up, circling round. Every now and then so close they came, shrilly shrieking and scream- ing, one after another, in follow-my-leader fashion, that I felt the cool fanning of the air from their 8 58 EGYPTIAN BIRDS beating wings. In the early morning they were out again, but during the middle of the day they were rarely if ever to be seen. By the end of November there were but few, and when I returned after Christmas there was hardly one to be seen. About the middle of January I saw flocks of them again at Karnak, which is only just on the other side of the river. Shelley seems to speak of the Common Swift as rare, and he is most probably right, but I have no doubt whatever of the identity of those I saw in the neighbourhood of Thebes at that particular time. The Swift that really breeds here is the Pale Swift, which, instead of being almost black all over like the Common Swift, has a more or less uniform greyish-brown plumage, and is considerably smaller ; Shelley says two inches. In the report of the Giza Zoological Society on the wild birds that have been observed in the gardens, both species of Swifts are noticed as having occurred there, and it is probable that both kinds are spread over the whole of Egypt. Why it is not generally noticed is because, as has been said, it flies out rather late, and keeps to great heights, never within my own experience flying as at home a foot or so above the ground. THE LITTLE GREEN BEE-EATER 59 The Pale Swift I have often seen, and so close to me that the main difference in plumage to the Common Swift has been definitely noted. I my- self have never heard it make the wild shrieking note our own bird makes, but then I have only seen it in the mid-winter months. THE SWALLOWS Hirundo rustica Hirundo savignii European Common Chimney Swallow Egyptian Upper plumage from forehead to tail, deep metallic steel blue-black ; forehead and throat, rich red-brown; a band of the blue borders the red on throat; underparts creamy- white; beak very short and black; eyes, dark brown. Length, 8 inches. THE above description is of the Common or Chimney Swallow, and if for the creamy-white underparts, you read red-brown underparts, length 7 inches, you have an accurate description of the Egyptian or Oriental Chimney Swallow. As the Egyptian Swallow and our own Common Swallow are so similar in appearance and habits, both are dealt with in this article. With so little difference between the two species, it is not strange that persons seem to find it hard to distinguish the one from the other; but really, if one watches at all carefully, he will soon note if the individual bird has the creamy-white underparts or no, as it is seldom that any swallow flies long without that sideway swerve which shows the wing lifted free above the body. The first date I have noted as 60 COMMON SWALLOW AND EGYPTIAN SWALLOW THE SWALLOWS 6] seeing the Common Swallow was February 1, 1908, at the Mat Lake, Karnak; but I have no doubt that at some parts up or down the river they can be seen all the winter through. After February, day by day, the great hosts of them, all flying with earnest intent due north, makes one of the most interesting sights to English eyes in all Egypt, as one can well believe that some of those very birds will be the first to greet one on his return home in April or May. I have often seen them hawking about over the waters of some small insect-haunted pool in friendly company with their Oriental cousins, and have always marvelled at their leaving a land with its constant sun and amazing wealth of flies and insects, for our own comparatively inclement clime and poor food-supply. In a room I slept in, at the hut at Deir-el-Bahari, there was a swallow’s nest just over my bed, and though it was too early when I was there in January for them to start breeding, on several occasions the Egyptian Swallows came fluttering in through the unglazed windows, just to take a look round and see that all was right for later on. On February 14 I saw two, which were clearly mated birds, on the ground, picking up scraps of twigs and straw, and then rapidly 62 EGYPTIAN BIRDS fly away. Ina few minutes both were back again, and one seemed to be taking mud, whilst the other kept searching for just the right-sized bit of dry grass or straw; it took up many bits, but they did not seem to satisfy the requirements and were dropped, till just the right-sized piece was forthcoming. So it is clear they must start nesting very early, and pretty certainly will have, as our British bird does, two broods in the season. There is practically little or no difference in the habits of either of these two Swallows—the one might be the other—and though I have watched them long and carefully, I am unable to recall any single peculiarity that our Swallow has from the Egyptian. Both alike have that habit of dipping momentarily into the water, then rising for a short distance, and again fluttering down on to the surface with a slight splash, and both kinds seem to have boundless energy and strength, tearing up and down incessantly by the hour together. So many birds rest in flight by making long sweeping curves with rigidly outstretched wings. Kites and Vultures are great exponents of this power, but the Swallows, though they can do it of course, are nearly all the day careering in headlong flight with restless energy, and the eae mi TY ba 5 ° =) =| << 3 n io) gq 4 3) 3) =) < Ay THE SWALLOWS 63 long journey they take in migration is probably, under fair climatic conditions, nothing at all formidable to them. If, however, they get caught in some storm or blizzard-like gale, it is an altogether different matter, and there are many records of the Mediterranean coast being littered with hundreds of dead bodies of the Swallows that have succumbed and fallen helplessly into the sea. Watching them flying about the river, or above the growing crops, one finds it difficult to picture a more perfectly happy existence—food in abundance, sunshine all day long, and a kindly welcome at roosting time in every house or rough mud-hut—and cheery and grateful it seems for it all, if one may judge by its lively twittering song. No wonder every country has made a special favourite of the Swallow. It is entirely insectivorous, and, as has been said of several other birds, the use that they are in this land of plagues of flies is enormous. Swallows’ nests, as is well known, are generally placed on some horizontal beam or masonry. Martin’s nests are placed on the perpendicular sides of buildings, and by choice close under the eaves of our broad-roofed houses. Both are built of mud, and the mud is very generally obtained from road- 64 EGYPTIAN BIRDS sides or by the river's edge, but if any of my readers will endeavour to build up a nest with such mud against an upright wall, they will attempt an all but impossible task, for as the curve begins to grow outwards it will with its own weight fall away from the wall. What is it, then, that the Swallows and Martins do to make their nests adhere? If you examine an old last year’s nest and try and break the outer shell, you will find it very tough consider- ing the material it is made of, and the toughening matter is a secretion of saliva. In the case of some species of Swallows this secretion is so great that the whole of the nest is made of that substance alone, with the lining of a few feathers. And it is this nest, cleaned of all foreign matter which is the base of the much-esteemed delicacy known as bird- nest soup. Few who have partaken of this luxury are perhaps aware that it is simply solidified saliva. Of Martins there are two—the House-Martin and the Sand-Martin, both birds common to Great Britain. Of the latter, literally thousands and thousands will be seen nesting in colonies in the mud banks by all who go up and down the river ; restless and cheerful, they are one of the welcome sights of the Nile trip, and often for miles at a stretch the whole banks are honeycombed with THE SWALLOWS 65 their nesting holes, and ever and again, moved by some common impulse, hundreds come rushing out and over the boat with noisy twitterings, and then scattering, gradually return in ones and twos to their homes again. WHITE WAGTAIL Motacilla alba Crown of head and nape dark grey or black, upper plumage delicate grey, wings brownish, some of the feathers edged with white; tail dark-brownish, two outer feathers on each side white ; forehead, most of the cheek and under-parts white, black collar, legs and bill black, eyes brown. Length, 7 inches. I HAVE pictured this particular Wagtail as it is perhaps the commonest of all, but there are several other kinds that at certain seasons might dispute the point and run it very close. It is very similar, superficially, to the familiar Pied Wagtail, but is greyer, less positively black and white, and might well be called the Grey rather than the White Wagtail. In the winter months, in Egypt, at whatever part of the country, north or south, you may be, you will see Wagtails of some sort or another busily chasing flies with ever - restless activity, and the numbers that there must be of this most useful bird is past all computation. Wagtails are peculiar in that they are about the smallest birds that really walk and run. All other 66 iG ‘al ; Pi FY 4 ro WHITE WAGTAIL 67 small birds—finches, warblers, and the rest—move by hopping ; but Wagtails all run, and hardly ever make any semblance of a hop unless the sudden bound into the air after some passing fly be called a hop. No bird is neater or more graceful in line than this, and I am sadly conscious of how little of its real beauty the drawing gives; the dainti- ness with which it does everything is singularly beautiful. Though many pass the winter in Egypt some must go farther south, as when the time comes for their return to their northern breeding-places in February and March there is a notable increase in their numbers, and I remember one particular evening in March when the whole cultivated ground round the Ramaseum, Thebes, was literally covered with them, and as darkness came on even more seemed to be dropping in on every side. ‘The next day, when I went to the same place, the bulk had already gone, and there were hardly more than you could see at any time. The Yellow Wagtail is a smaller bird than the White. Ornithologists record no less than three species as found in Egypt, all having yellow breasts. The Grey-headed Yellow Wagtail is the one most abundant, and for beauty is unsurpassed. 68 EGYPTIAN BIRDS Its tail is notably shorter than in other Wagtails, — and from my own observation I should say it is a more timid little bird than others of its — kindred. THE CRESTED LARK Galerita cristata All upper plumage brown; the large feathers of wings and tail edged with a lighter buffish tone; crest of narrow dark-brown feathers with light edges ; back of crest, as one sees under it when raised, tells very rich dark brown ; under- parts white spotted and streaked on breast with dark brown. Length, 6°7 inches. For once the name does really describe the bird, so that none may be in any doubt whatever. For the crest is the one thing noticed. I have drawn one with a fine crest, but have been afraid to make it as big as I have in one or two cases seen it. Early in February I saw some that I really think had the crest a full eighth of an inch higher than my drawing shows. In each case they were un- doubtedly showing off to their lady-love. The crest can be, and often is, raised at an absolute right angle as to a line horizontal with the beak. The bird is so tame that frequently it sits on the path so that you fear your donkey will tread on it, and so common that no one, however unobservant, but must notice it; it is particularly in evidence on the great Thebes plain across which all go to the 69 70 EGYPTIAN BIRDS Tombs of the Kings. Its song, as far as I have heard it, is distinctly pleasant ; Captain Shelley calls it “ but an indifferent song,” which is severe, as it is a happy little rippling series of true lark-like notes. It has a good mixed diet, animal and vegetable, hard grain and soft blade of growing things. When the weather begins to get warm you will often see this lark, as you may many other birds, sitting with its mouth open as if gasping for breath ; that this is a sign they do feel the heat is certain, but I do not think that it shows they are suffering from thirst, for in the cultivation they always have water all round them in the little canals that run everywhere through the crops, and if they were thirsty they could very soon quench it. When on Lake Menzaleh, just on the very limit of Egyptian soil and Mediterranean Sea, I came across many taking a last rest on the sand- banks before migrating, and was very struck with their altered bearing. ‘They were shy and timid, never allowed a close inspection, and flew away in hurried fashion. This was in the early weeks of April. Z x ns Q 2 sal n a (4 Q THE WHITE-RUMPED CHAT Saxicola leucopygia General plumage, black with slae-blue reflections ; rump, white; tail, black; outside feathers, white; beak and legs, black ; eyes, brown. Length varying from 64 to 7 inches. I conFEss to finding the Chats a puzzling order of birds to identify when seen in the open. In the case of some, not only is the female larger, but of such a different aspect and dull sandy colour that it is really difficult to believe that it is in any way related to the startlingly plumaged black and white male bird. All the Chats love the desert more than the cultivated ground, and I myself have never seen this Chat save on rocks or sand. The visitor going to the Tombs of the Kings at Thebes, or around the Pyramids, should certainly see this bird, as it is there common, and owing to its way of flitting sharply from one point to another, and sitting high up on the top of some boulder, with its strongly contrasted black and white plumage, is always a very conspicuous object. What it gets to live on in these desert places is hard to see, but 71 72 EGYPTIAN BIRDS it does manage to pick up a living on grass or other seeds and small insects. Two other Chats very closely related are the Hooded Chat and the Mourning Chat. The former is very similarly marked on the body, but has a white top or hood on its head, whilst the latter has the top of its head a delicate dull grey, and a buflish tone over the under tail-coverts. ROSY-VENTED CHAT Saxicola moesta Black on sides of face; wings, a blackish brown with lighter margins ; under parts a warm white gradating into a pinkish rufous as it nears tail; tail, dark at end, white at base; eyes, brown. Length, 6:2 inches. THis is not so common a bird as the preceding, but still if a sharp look-out be kept it ought to be seen. It inhabits the desert, but I have twice seen it on the edge of cultivation, and the particular bird I made my drawing from got up from stubble just by the river-side. Both this bird and the White- rumped are closely related to our own Wheatear on one side and to our Stone-chat on the other. All these birds are alike in the continued restlessness TABS Y2OR UWA TAtiu, 4 i = rare hey Baars a 7 4 7 : 5 4 ‘f = : : oe _ ee 7 rt ey ren 7 7 i } 2 ad iv < e 4 he A. @ hive T8054 rm r . , « -s ay : ¥ iS 2 - q ’ 5 F p ie val sy elf ¥ - a. - 4 hat. hb i ho iy hiist q itr \ eo me ITA‘ WHITE-RUMPED CHAT AND ROSY CHAT bia wii t ‘s lurk 4 + i : ; ' } { ; ‘ ’ at ; ;? . , ’ q on ‘ea ‘ A © ae Ciba wt Ide g it 7 wat le “ cules * i bird. n a rom got up % J eels . THE WHITE-RUMPED CHAT 73 of their movements, and their habit of flying on in advance as one approaches, and then settling again on some prominent point till a nearer approach sends it on again with a flick of its tail till it finds another suitable perching spot. In the most out-of-the-way desolate places, where not one blade of vegetation shows itself, and all is yellow sand and hard grey rock baking in the sun, there you will as likely as not find Chats of one kind or another, the only living thing, seemingly, in this great dreary expanse ; the dreariness never, however, seems to affect them. No one has ever seen a Chat in low spirits ; it is always happy and lively, a very Mark Tapley amongst birds. THE BLUE-THROATED WARBLER Cyanecula suecica Plumage of back and top of head dull grey-brown; a light buff stripe above eye; throat and breast brilliant cobalt-blue, with a white spot at the top of breast, a bright rufous bar edges the blue on the lower breast, this red bar sometimes being separated from the blue by a thin white stripe; under-parts white. The hen bird is a dull edition of the above, with a buffish-coloured throat, and more black than blue showing on the breast; legs, beak, and eyes brown. ‘Total length, 5:5 inches. Tus is a common bird throughout Egypt, where it winters. It is related to our common Robin, to which it bears some resemblance; but it is rather longer in shape and higher on the leg than the Redbreast. The Bluethroat is well named, and having once seen this charming little warbler, it is by its blue throat it will be remembered. The first time I came across this bird was long ago; but I remember, as if it were to-day, my delight when the little bird, which had been flitting about —now on the ground, now in the lower branches and twigs of a bushy osier—turned so that I saw 74 rs Re a a BLUE-THROATED WARBLER | | THE BLUE-THROATED WARBLER 75 its brilliant ultramarine-blue gorget fringed with a rust-red band. It had been for some minutes feeding and moving about in the bush and on the ground, and yet, during the whole of that time, it had never once turned right head on, and that which was my first experience is, one finds, a quite usual peculiarity. It always seems to give you a back view, and from that view you might be justified in thinking it was a Redstart, as it has the same habit of flitting its tail up and down, and showing the very orange-red under - parts. Whether it was an accidental visitation I do not know, but early in the year 1908 the gardens of the old Luxor Hotel were full of Bluethroats—as soon, pretty well, as you passed one you came on another. ‘The little water-channels running about these well-kept grounds seemed to be the point of attraction, as they were busily hopping about and sometimes into them, and splashing merrily—hardly serious washing, but a sort of childlike abandon of pleasure in pleasant surroundings ; but even with so many visible, and seen under such familiar conditions, it was astonishing how seldom any gave one a front face view. There is a point of great interest in the two races of Bluethroat, one having a red, the other a white spot on the blue 76 EGYPTIAN BIRDS shield: and this because the red-spotted species goes for its breeding quarters to the most northern parts of Scandinavia, whilst its white-spotted cousin goes no farther north than Germany. And we are told that in spite of Germany’s numerous and well-instructed ornithologists no case has been observed of the red-spotted form ever having stopped in its transit from Africa, although it must pass right over the country, till it reaches its nearly Arctic home. This seems to show that this delicately built, tender little bird probably makes its journey by night, and so high up that it escapes all observation ; and when you consider the vast distance from Egypt's shores to the far-away mosses of Scandinavia, it is about as marvellous a journey without a halt as one can conceive of. Flies, insects, caterpillars, and, when it can get it, fruit of any kind, form its diet. The Bluethroat is on the list of British birds, but is one more case of a bird being so included that really hardly should be, for it is but an accidental visitor; probably it never meant to come to Britain and only got there by mistake, when it is generally shot at sight. It is particu- larly upright in its carriage and sprightly in its movements; so quick that eyes unaccustomed to THE BLUE-THROATED WARBLER UT observing birds find it difficult to see it at all, as with a series of running hops it darts under the shade of overhanging bush or shrub. In the winter months it hardly utters more than a simple call-note, but as spring approaches it breaks into song, and at the end of March I have several times heard it singing most enchantingly. It seems to sing when on the ground, and not when perched amongst the bushy undergrowth; and I remember watching one, singing as lustily as any nightingale, as it stood on a bare bit of stony, sandy soil, bordering a little pool, fully exposed to view, while I sat quietly not three yards away. THE REED WARBLER Acrocephalus streperus 'General plumage a greyish brown; a warmer brown on the wings, and brighter brown on rump; under parts a delicate white, shading into buff on the flanks and under tail coverts ; a faint light stripe above eye; legs and beak, brown ; eyes, hazel brown. Length, 5} inches. THE song of any bird is one of the most certain methods, when really known, of identification. In the case of Warblers and other small birds that flit about rapidly, and always half-sheltered by vegeta- tion, it is often exceedingly difficult to get a near and clear view, and very hard to know exactly to what species it belongs. This is particularly the ease with the Reed and the Sedge Warblers; they stick so close to their beloved shelter that you rarely get a complete view of them, but if you will wait quietly and patiently you are sure to hear them burst out into a shorter or longer song —then is your chance—and if you have the very slightest sense of music, you will catch the notes peculiar to that bird and that bird alone. The Reed Warbler’s song is very peculiar ; it isa running trill of notes given out exceedingly quickly, and in 78 re ~ REED WARBLER THE REED WARBLER 79 an exceedingly loud, noisy, boisterous voice, as if the bird were in the highest possible spirits. Very unlike that of many of the singers ; the Nightingale, for instance, to every one sounds sad, plaintive, beautiful, but distinctly not cheerful. I have heard the Reed Warbler very often at many points on the Nile where there were no reed beds, but only stunted tamarisk or other shrubs, but in the great reed beds on and outside Lake Menzaleh I have both seen and heard it in great numbers, and the quite extraordinary penetrating noise that a number make when together is most remarkable. It is a most charming active little bird, a perfect acrobat, and it sings as blithely upside down as it does right side up. But the most attractive thing about its life-history is its nest; this it builds in the very heart of some thick clump of reeds. The accompanying picture shows how when the wind blows the cradle does rock ; but it matters not how much it rocks, the wise bird builds the nest so deep that the eggs lying snug at the bottom never get tilted out. In Egypt the bird is, like the bulk of visitors, but a winter migrant. As it is insectivorous it is of some use in keeping down the host of flies great and small, and it is said to be partial to mosquitoes, which should make every 80 EGYPTIAN BIRDS one look with favour on this cheery little songster. I often think it is a mercy that practically all the song birds are small, for consider what it would mean if the large birds made noise in the same proportion to their size that the Reed Warbler does to his, —the world would be a veritable Babel. THE SPARROW Passer domesticus Top of head a bluish-grey, margined with deep chestnut band over the eye and ear-coverts; black chin and collar ; a white spot behind the eye; under-parts a silvery grey; wing chestnut with black spots, with a white bar across it; tail-feathers brown with lighter edges; eyes hazel; legs and beak pale brown. Entire length, 5:5 inches. Mr. M. J. Nicott thinks that the Egyptian Sparrow is a separate local variety, being always lighter and brighter coloured on the back. Spar- rows here, as elsewhere, distinctly follow man. Where no men are, you will find no Sparrows. Get only half a mile into the sandy plain that fringes the cultivation and you will look in vain, or go up the steep hills, and you may walk for miles and miles and never see one. But if you come across some of the old-time caravan roads, or a place where there has been an encampment, then, however wild the surroundings and otherwise far away from civilized life, you will very likely find a 81 11 82 EGYPTIAN BIRDS Sparrow or two looking after some of the drop- pings from the nose-bags. In winter they get spread about and are not very noticeable, but when the corn ripens then they all seem to multiply in extraordinary fashion. Clouds of them rise up and fly round, startled by the loud cry or stone slung by the ragged urchin of a bird scarer. I remember well Leighton’s picture of a bird scarer, showing an athletic young fellow, stripped to the waist, poised on one foot, body bent back, hurling the stone as David did at Goliath. But in the years I have known Egypt I have never seen in real life any- thing approaching that picture, for it is generally a blear-eyed small boy, half-clothed and hideously dirty, who, standing on the pathway, yells dis- cordantly and purposely just as you pass him, sometimes accompanying the cry with a mild little jerky underhand throw of some clot of hardened soil which possibly breaks in mid-air before reach- ing the birds. So no lives are lost, and the birds just fly away contemptuously to another part of the field. In Nubia it is different, and there girls as well as boys do really sling stones, and with some effect. I do not think there is any peculiarity of the life-history of the Sparrow in Egypt that is SPARROW In the Temple at Deir-el-Bahari- THE SPARROW 83 not equally noticeable wherever it is met with, but whereas at home it becomes almost a pest from its numbers, here it is not so noticeable, and its jaunty, sprightly air and carriage are often in agreeable contrast to the depressing squalor and monochrome, dismal surroundings. So here it gets blessings and not cursings poured on its head, and no one calls it “ Avian Rat,” or any other rude name. I have pictured it as I often saw it, playing in and out of the decorated temple walls, in a cleft of which possibly it was born, and the pictures of which it can honestly say it has been familiar with from earliest childhood. One cannot help but speculating, does the Sparrow recognize in the painting its arch-enemy, for the pictured Hawk shown may well, as far as form is concerned, be meant for a Sparrow Hawk ; which Hawk, true to its name, takes daily toll of all small birds and of Sparrows in particular. I remember well one day at the Ramaseum where I was painting—the quick passing shadow and the instant silencing of the cheery chattering of a host of Sparrows that were all sitting on a small bush just near me, and look- ing up, I saw a Sparrow Hawk dash away with a Sparrow in its talons, whilst the others were flying precipitately away in all directions. The 84 EGYPTIAN BIRDS Sparrow is an omnivorous feeder here, in Egypt, as it is at home, where nothing that grows comes amiss to it, not even the early crocuses of our gardens. THE DESERT BULLFINCH OR TRUMPETER FINCH Erythrospiza githaginea General Plumage—Sandy-grey, darker on wings, the larger feathers of which are edged with bright pink; rump and upper tail-coverts bright pink, under-parts all creamy pink with the ends of the feathers carmine, beak large and bright red, legs pinkish flesh-colour, eyes brown. ‘Total length, 5 inches. THE above description, as are all these descriptions, is of the adult male bird in full plumage, but the reader must remember that this full, brilliant plumage is generally worn only during the spring months, and that if any bird is observed in November or December, it naturally will not be then wearing its wedding - garment. This is especially true of the present species; in the winter months it is a quiet-coloured little bird, hardly to be noticed as it hops about on the cleared ground, to which its colour is very similar, its red beak alone showing brightly; and it is only in January that it begins to show any alteration, and 85 86 EGYPTIAN BIRDS not till the end of February does it look the brilliant pink bird described above; then it is almost impossible to over-describe its beauties, and one is in some danger of over-painting it. Shelley says that the young have the bill pale yellowish- brown, but I have seen little flocks together, which I take were families, in November, and every member of the party had brilliant red beaks, though otherwise they were all dull sandy colour. This bird has a peculiar song or call-note that is absurdly like that of a little tin trumpet, and this call it continually utters, especially as it flits about, so that it can thus often be identified even when too distant to be accurately seen. It is really a very common bird, but on account of its incon- spicuous winter plumage, is not always noticed. In December 1908, in walking across the cultivated Thebes valley up to the Tombs of the Kings, I must have seen many hundreds in those few miles, and when I did not see them I could frequently hear them. Most people really do not give them- selves much chance of seeing any of the details of bird-life, as they go everywhere on donkey © back, with chattering, ill-behaved boys as retinue, and though the birds are tame, they naturally fly away at the approach of these noisy cavalcades. DESERT BULLFINCH OR TRUMPETER FINCH THE DESERT BULLFINCH 87 But if only people would walk—and I can see no earthly reason why they shouldn't, they probably would at home—they would see such a wealth of charming pictures of bird-life that they would be well rewarded. As it is I have sometimes asked friends if they had noticed the extraordinary number of Wagtails, or whatever bird was passing by on its migration at the time, and have been astonished to find they had seen none, when sometimes the ground has been literally covered with them. But no, they go clanging and jolting along, and I suppose do really see nothing. At Assuan among the sand and rocks I have seen quite wonderfully brilliant male birds sittmg sing- ing something almost worthy to be called a song, —the ordinary sound is this rather monotonous single note-call. Its food is distinctly hard food, as we say of a cage-bird, and it spares no growing crop—maize, grass, mustard, corn, all come alike to it—but with this bird, as with many others, one does wonder how they support existence in the arid, plantless deserts, for you see them quite commonly there, as well as on cultivated ground. Ihave seen them in English bird-fanciers’ shops, but have no knowledge as to whether they are good cage-birds ; the one thing, however, which 88 EGYPTIAN BIRDS might make them such is of course in their love of hard grain food, and if they can be kept in health, they would certainly be most engaging pets, as they are very lively in their movements, and always seem to be bright and cheery. HOODED CROW Corvus cornix Head, throat, wings, tail, beak, and legs black, with a gloss of purple or green on most of the feathers ; remainder of plumage grey, eyes dark-brown. Total length, 18 inches. A VERY common bird throughout Egypt. It seems strange that this should be the only Crow—the pure black one has never been noticed—and if any black crow-like bird is noticed it will probably be found to be the Raven. Shelley says, “It begins breed- ing towards the end of February, when its nest may be procured in every clump of sont trees,” ' but I have seen young ones with their parents flying about in early February, which would mean they must have been hatched much earlier, and it would therefore seem certain that they rear two broods in the year. It does not seem here to have quite the same character that it has elsewhere—it is less aggressive, tamer, not such a highwayman-robber sort of bird—and though it is so common [ cannot ever remember to have seen a flock of them together in the real open country, they seem to 1 The term ‘sont trees” in Egypt is applied to acacia trees. 89 12 90 EGYPTIAN BIRDS go in pairs generally ; but in towns and such places as the Zoological Gardens of Cairo they do fore- gather in large numbers. Its food is generally carrion, but it will take any living thing—lizards, mice, and even beetles—that comes in its way, and I have no doubt rob the nests of small birds, not only of eggs but also of the unfledged young. It is distinctly a handsome bird and it walks well, holding its head high, whilst its flight is strong and easy. It was entirely owing to a certain Crow, we are told, that Cairo got its name, for it seems that when the architect was planning out the city, he arranged that the first stone of the great surrounding wall should be laid at a particular moment dictated by the astrologers. This moment was to be made known to the architect by the pull- ing of a cord extending from where he was to the place where the astrologers were assembled. The momentous day arrived, the architect awaited the signal, and suddenly the cord was shaken, and the stone was laid. But a horrid mistake had been made. The astrologers had not pulled the cord; a wretched old Crow had heavily perched upon it, and shaken by his weight, the unlucky signal was given! From the vexation caused by this incident os an sie piaees ) Cairo they df: fone ; ; rr erally ic thing Tiga ' . ts way it bards irvfien cat rig iit alle well, One Am HOODED CROW am Dit by the pu | 5 ee ip t &# ited» a t va ae ae HOODED CROW 91 the city was called Kahira’ (the “vexatious” or “unlucky ”). Kahira softened, soon became Cairo. The Raven, as already stated, is to be seen from time to time, and especially where the cliffs come down close to the river. It is so similar to the ordinary Raven that it is only after the feathers of the head and neck have been worn for some time that the brown look appears which has given rise to the specific name of the Brown-necked Raven. Shelley says it nests in date-palm trees, but the only nests I myself have seen have been in the lofty cliffs of Deir-el-Bahari and Abu Feada, and again in some of the ruins of temples, at Karnak for instance. There is, further, one more Raven, the Abyssinian, which is smaller by some three inches than the Brown-necked, but it is very similar in all other respects. 1 Curzon’s Monasteries of the Levant. EGYPTIAN TURTLE-DOVE OR PALM DOVE Turtur senegalensis General plumage a dull pinky light brown, brighter on head and breast, which gradually shades off into white under the tail; wings, warm tones of dull umber brown, which colour also is on the tail coverts and two central tail feathers ; the rest of the tail is blue-grey with broad white tips, a part of the wing coverts a bright blue-grey ; it has a not very pro- nounced collar of black and bright golden brown feathers on the sides and front of neck, eyes crimson, legs and feet pink. Total length, 11 inches. Tue Doves have all had a sort of saintly character thrust on them, which they hardly deserve, as they are about the most pugnacious of birds, which is hardly a saintly qualification! It is true a pair of Doves by themselves, kept in semi-domestication, do show a sort of maudlin affection, but many of the smaller birds—Wrens, Tits, W arblers, and Swallows, and many others—all show equal, if not greater true affection to each other and absolute self-abnegation in their untiring devotion to their offspring. Why, therefore, the Dove has been peculiarly ticketed as 92 . - } a bs ¥, r ‘ai « 1 B » ey bal s x = 74. tS ee _ i ey m wa a! ; ——. » 7 i ar “ 5 a wr - at ' ; r A -dpeicdigesh i ; we ° 7 A fr 7 : AG 2 ee iL eo te Cf INEDAWe ARTS eit ; ole y ? a Py ee < ; . 7 y : r] ' @ ‘sii 4 it ery = i a , “wy x ‘ > = j ‘ = ’ ihe ue ey — ig b “* ; 7 7 —" ms ya -—Ag . a ne ins =- 5 © “ we oT , Mritibe i EGYPTIAN PALM DOVES EGYPTIAN TURTLE-DOVE 93 a model of connubial affection I really do not know, but it has, and I suppose it will be treated as a sort of sacred symbol to the end of time. This particular Egyptian Turtle-dove is also sometimes called the Palm-dove ; a good name, as it is always to be found wherever there are palm trees ; on them it roosts and in their branches it nests. When flying it opens its tail wide, and then shows the broad white and lilac-grey of those side feathers which when sitting are all hidden away under the two central dull brown tail feathers. Its flight through and among trees is very rapid and tortuous, and it is perhaps when in the dense clump of palm trees that it is most interesting, as it is so tame that it allows of a close approach. In any of the palm groves, and palms are everywhere in Egypt, the bird lover will be able to learn some- thing of this very Oriental Dove. The first thing he will note is that clearly some of the many that are flying here and there, and feeding on the ground around him, are quite young birds, even though it may be December or January, and it is certain that this true inhabitant of warm sunny Egypt has two broods at least in the year. SENEGAL SAND-GROUSE Pterocles senegallus Arabic, Gutta Back and general tone of feathers sandy, top of head and breast a delicate pinkish-lilac, cheeks and throat a strong brilliant orange-yellow, wings spotted with chocolate- brown markings, legs feathered, centre of chest and stomach dark dull brown, two centre tail-feathers elongated, black at points, barred at base. The female is not nearly so brightly marked, indeed, is mainly sand-coloured ; eyes brown, beak dull grey. Total length, 12 inches. THERE are three different varieties of Sand-grouse in Egypt—the Singed. the Coroneted, and the Senegal. The last has been selected as it is the one with which I am best acquainted, but either of the others have an equal claim, since, though occupy- ing different localties, they are to be met with throughout the area covered by this book. All the Sand-grouse are very similar in their habits, they are all children of the desert, but come down, either to feed or to water, to the cultivated ground at morning and evening. Captain Shelley gives absolute localities where they might be found (he was writing in 1872), and ever since he gave 94 i ; ; ina Led Ae eo r re] n =) ° % ° Q Z < n SENEGAL SAND-GROUSE 95 that information there has been each winter a regular invasion of British and other ardent sports- men, to each of the places named, to have “a little Sand-grouse shooting.” Result: at those places there are now none whatever, and no one living there seems to know anything more about Sand-grouse than that annually large numbers of men come with shooting equipment ready to make record bags, and go away without firing a shot. This being so, the present author thinks it best not to give localities, for though there is no danger of Sand-grouse ever being exterminated, as if persecuted they have the whole of these great African deserts to fall back and back upon, yet the hunger of the modern man to go out and kill something bearing the least resemblance to a game- bird is such, that if it were told that at certain places near the river they could be got, in a single season or two that place would be absolutely cleared. It seems rather churlish perhaps, but this book is not written to aid men to shoot Egyptian birds, but simply to recognise the birds seen; and the first essential is that there should be birds to see. Sand-grouse seem to be pleasant sociable birds, happy in their family life; at the non-breeding season they foregather into 96 EGYPTIAN BIRDS large companies, in which order they fly great dis- tances to and fro to whatever pools or water they customarily visit each evening, and it is at these places that the most deadly shooting can take place, for they are very regular in their “ flighting.” Captain Tindall Lucas tells me that the Coroneted Sand-grouse drinks later in the evening and earlier in the morning than the other forms and practically when all light has gone; the more usual time being just before the sun sets. The freedom with which they fly is extraordinary, it is more with the power of the Swallow than any game-bird; they mount very high up into the air, and go wheeling round and round, now mounting nearly out of sight, then rushing headlong down in a long swooping curve till near the earth, when, perhaps, they will turn off sharp at some angle and go tearing away in some opposite direction. This is when they are in flocks, and out on the wide open desert; when coming down to water, or near cultivation, or among the coarse Halfa grass, they fly with direct intent, and waste no time about it. Their cry must be heard to be appreciated ; it is usually written as “gutta, gutta, gutta,” but no description of birds’ notes ever seems to be of much value ; it is, however, so very individual that once SENEGAL SAND-GROUSE 97 heard would never be forgotten, and it has, as all Nature's notes have, an entire suitability to the surroundings, and like the boundless, yellow, dry, herbless desert it is wild and weird, yet beautiful. I remember once a quite intelligent Scotch keeper answering an inquiry, as to what Ptarmi- gan found to eat amongst the barren hill- tops where they live with the amazing statement, delivered in the most solemn manner, “that they just lived on the little stones,” and when doubt was thrown on his information, declared that he had often cut them open to see, and had never found anything in their crops “ but just the wee stones.” And the inquiry might well be made as to the source of food of the Sand-grouse when one sees a large flock in the desert places that they love to be in during the day, if one did not know of their wondrous powers of flight, which make nothing of flymg scores of miles to the far-distant edges of cultivated ground. I have watched Sand-grouse quite close at hand, and when on the ground they are rather dumpy- shaped and uninteresting; if disturbed, they pull themselves together a bit and run off to a short distance, and settle down again in a crouching position; if again disturbed they probably rise 13 98 EGYPTIAN BIRDS altogether, with their “gutta, gutta” ery and fly miles away. In running they go like clockwork mice; you hardly see their legs or feet, and they rise and fall over the varying contours of the ground just like a little running wave. From Alexandria to Assoan and beyond right to the Soudan, Sand-grouse are to be met with, and though every one may not see this typical desert bird, it is there if only they know where to look for it. SAND PARTRIDGE Ammoperdix heyi The colour of the upper plumage on body is so delicate in quality that it is hard to say if it should be called a lilac grey or pinky grey, whilst in certain lights it might be called a sandy brown; the head is, with the cheeks, neck, and breast, a pearly pink; the flanks are barred with rich chestnut and black on a warm white breast ; white on the ear coverts and a white spot in front of the eye in the variety known as Cholmondely ; legs yellow; eyes brown; beak a brilliant orange. The hen bird is without the bright chestnut bars on the flanks, and is altogether a paler-coloured greyish-buff, and without white on the face. Total length, 9 inches. Tuts is a resident Egyptian bird, and I include it in my list because, though the traveller up the Nile may not see it, any who go across the desert around the Pyramid district, and even those who journey only a little out of Assoan, ought quite certainly to come across it. It is a most charming, lively little bird, bustling about ; you rarely see it quiet for long, even in January it still keeps in coveys, and they go running along in and out of the boulders, and, if on a hillside, they are very quick and agile in hopping high up on to the rocks above them. ‘They very seldom 99 100 EGYPTIAN BIRDS fly if they can possibly get out of your way by running. I very well remember seeing them on the old-time road from Kennah to Kosseir on the Red Sea. I saw them first before reaching Wady Hammamat, and then more frequently as we passed through the ancient quarries. ‘They seem to use this old roadway as their regular feeding-ground, for there, owing to the passage of caravans back- wards and forwards, they find a perpetual source of food from the frequent droppings. Their move- ments were so quick and their little bodies so round and plump that, even with my glass on them, I could not settle the colour of their legs, till I got a closer inspection of those in the Cairo Zoological Gardens. As they run they utter a little cheery sort of “cheep, cheep” call, and the whole party seem always happy, if not in boisterous spirits, which, when one considers the hardness of their life in these sterile wastes, seems somewhat remarkable. Grain and seeds are their staple food, but I distinctly saw one once and again make a dart at some passing insect, and no doubt here, as at home, they love the ants’ eggs that must exist, as ants are ever present with you in this hot desert country. As far as my own notes go, I do not think they ever come down even to the outskirts i f vee HEY’S SAND-PARTRIDGE SAND PARTRIDGE 101 of the cultivation, but keep exclusively to the sand (possibly in spring or summer they may approach nearer to the haunts of man, but I have no evidence), which makes the fact of their being, as it is alleged they are, exceedingly good eating, very remarkable, for one would be disposed to think they would be thin, tough, and tasteless. I have it on good authority, that as a game-bird for the table, they are far to be preferred to our own Partridge, being, though small, very plump and of a fine game flavour. All Partridges seem peculiar in doing well on very little—at home one often wonders during a hard winter at their surviving at all—for they are never fed like the pampered Pheasants, and not only do they survive, but they seem to carry as much flesh when shot in a hard winter as they do in September when grain lies scattered in profusion on every stubble. Although one has praised its seeming happy way of living, no account of this bird would be complete without some notice of its extraordinary pugnacity. This is confined admittedly to the males, but with them it is, as with all so-called game-birds, a ruling passion, of which our game-cocks are of course well-known examples; but it may not be so generally known that in many countries— 102 EGYPTIAN BIRDS Greece, amongst others—Partridges are kept for this special purpose of fighting for the delectation of their owners, and though I am not aware of this little sportsman, the Sand Partridge, having been kept for this purpose, I am sure if it was it would not disgrace the traditions of its family, for a more pugnacious little bird than it never walked. The males have a peculiar habit of standing ever and anon quite upright puffing out all their breast feathers, so that they display all the beauty of their rich chestnut and black-barred plumage. The naturalists have discovered that in certain districts the birds all have a white spot over the beak on the forehead, and to this variety is given the name of Cholmondely’s Sand Partridge, whilst the other type, with only one white spot behind the eye on the cheeks, is known as Hey’s Sand Partridge. Here, as in the case of most birds, the description of the plumage is taken from the male bird, the female nearly always being very much more sober coloured. This cannot too often be repeated, as not recognizing this fact often leads to mistake ; and again, in the matter of the measurements of the birds, the size given is that of the average bird, for in almost all birds you get larger or smaller individuals, and that veteran SAND PARTRIDGE 103 naturalist Wallace has just lately drawn attention to the quite extraordinary variations in the different parts of the Common Redwing, showing that even in twenty birds the dimensions varied considerably. THE QUAIL Coturnix communis Arabic, Salwa Plumage—Upper parts brown marked with grey, rufous, and black, a buff line over eye and on crown of head, a semicircular collar of dark brown on throat; lower parts lighter, streaked with black down centre of feathers, beak brown, legs pale warm brown, eyes hazel. Total length, 7°5 inches. Tue call of the male Quail is one of those strange sounds that have around it much of the halo that the song of the Cuckoo has at home, be- cause it marks a definite date—the passing of winter and the coming of summer. For the ordinary traveller this call, which by some has been rendered as sounding like “ What we whee,” is all that he will ever know of the bird’s presence, as it is curiously skulking in habits, and never rises unless suddenly alarmed by one’s walking through the cover in which it hides. Personally I agree with a friend who said the sound was identical with the sort of cheeping call of a young turkey poult, but all descriptions of birds’ songs I hold to be rather vain. Each one for himself 104 ) ' a. le QUAIL ; ae. Flying over growing corn. i . ) AT "72 | rv (io - Wie, . cts hd i 2 F ’ THE QUAIL 105 must notice and learn from actual experience, and the various calls and notes are so individual that when once really noted are never forgotten, and to at all a good ear these aids to identification are as sure as if the very bird were placed in his hands. Quail pass through Egypt when on their way to their more northerly breeding quarters early in March and April. Some few may remain the year through, but they are a small minority. The return to Egypt is from September to November, and it is during these journeyings that the vast quantities are caught in nets, which later are sent to every European city for the tables of the rich. Mr. C. D. Burnett-Stuart very kindly has given me the following notes :— “From Alexandria to Port Said the whole length of coast is practically hung with nets; but Government lately has forbidden the placing of the nets on the actual foreshore which it controls, which were the most killing positions, and the nets can now only be placed farther back on private and cultivated ground. The numbers of Quail which must migrate passes belief, for it is recorded that in Coronation Year five million were ordered and supplied for the English market alone.” “The route which they take leaving Egypt 14 106 EGYPTIAN BIRDS seems to be roughly the great valley of the Nile right to its entrances to the Mediterranean; but on the return journey from Europe they seem to reach the shores of Egypt, then turn eastwards and follow the line of the Suez Canal and Red Sea to about Kosseir and the old river-bed, then across the desert to the Nile, and away spread- ing themselves over the heart of Africa.” “On their arrival in Egypt they are so dog- tired that they can sometimes be caught by hand, and have been actually so caught in houses that they have entered in a sort of dazed condition. The poor Quail are also caught in large numbers by a drop-net whilst on passage down the river, in clover, or any other suitable crop, the fowler call- ing them up to his net by a reed whistle. Quail shooting used to be a more favourite sport than it is now since Denshawie days, and two guns have on one occasion obtained 252 birds in the day at Ayat, fifty miles south of Cairo.” After this one is not disposed to say “liar” even to the ancient historian who recorded the sink- ing of certain vessels in the ocean, because of the innumerable Quail that settled on them; and one readily accepts the story of the Israelites’ camp being covered all over two cubits high by falling THE QUAIL 107 Quails. Canon Tristam has a note on this incident and “the fully satisfied hungry people,” that the very “Hebrew name selav, in its Arabic form salwa, signifies fat, very descriptive of the round plump form and fat flesh of the Quail.” Ten is said to be the average of the clutch of eggs laid, which number partly explains the enormous flocks which come year after year in spite of the incessant raids made upon them. If by chance you do see Quails rise from the crops you are instantly reminded of partridges; but they never rise as high as the latter birds, and though I have heard of their answering to being “driven,” I should think they give very un- satisfactory shooting, as they are rarely more than a foot or two above the crops, whether they be clover or young corn. CREAM-COLOURED COURSER Cursorius gallicus General plumage a bright clear yellowish sand colour ; forehead a bright burnt sienna; crown of head a light lilac- grey; eyebrows white; eyes brown; legs white. Length, 10 inches. THis is one of the birds commonly selected as an illustration of ‘protective coloration.” It lives in the sandy deserts, and its plumage displays a curiously harmonious blending of the various colours to be found on the dry, stony, sandy soil. The very markedly contrasting colours of the head are just the very same that you see in the pebbles or stones, and the smoother passages of delicate buff and greyish-yellow are the counterpart of the curving slopes of pure sand; whilst even the startling enamel-like white of the legs resembles the bleached, hard, dry stalks of the desert vege- tation. When the bird crouches down it is practically invisible, though, as the phrase is, it may be ‘right under your nose,” but as a matter of fact it seems most often to perversely upset the whole value of what we men deem its valuable 108 Mae = ‘ CREAM-COLOURED COURSER CREAM-COLOURED COURSER 109 protective asset by running about, and drawing attention to itself by continually uttering its peculiar ery. And when it rises and flies off, as it frequently does, in little bands or parties, all utter the same note with incessant, noisy reiteration. I first saw this bird when riding across the desert towards Kosseir on the Red Sea, and I well remember my surprise at seeing how completely different was the position assumed by the birds to that which all the pictures with which I was familiar had led me to expect. It runs about very high on the legs, and every other moment lifts its body up nearly perpendicularly, looking sharply round right and left before again making another quick little run in search of some speck of food. It struck me as being a peculiarly cheery little bird, and seemed to be of a sociable nature, always being in little parties, and often when they all rose together they would be quickly jomed by some others, who had been before out of sight, and together they would go wheeling about in mid-air, mounting high up into the sky, till the eye unaided lost sight of them, but all the time their whereabouts was certain, because of their most musical, reiterated ery, which somewhat resembles that of the Sand Grouse. 110 EGYPTIAN BIRDS It loves the deserts, and as far as I know never leaves them save to come down, as the Sand-grouse do, to some water-hole. Round the Pyramids, and even within sight of the babel of guides and donkey boys, this child of the desert may be seen, but it always keeps, as it were, in touch with the bound- less open sandy tracts to which it can beat a safe retreat. In one of the large show-cases in the great Central Hall of the British Museum of Natural History, they are shown in a group with other desert birds and beasts, but it is sad to see how the colours of their plumage get—even with all the care of dust-proof cases—dull, faded and dingy, giving little idea of the brilliantly clear, delicately coloured plumage of the living bird, as seen under the clear blue of an Egyptian sky. THE GREEN PLOVER OR LAPWING Vanellus cristatus Upper plumage dark metallic alternating green and purple; a dark crest of upward curling pointed feathers ; under plumage white; black chest; orange under tail coverts ; beak black; legs brown; eyes dark brown. Total length, 13 inches. THis is the “ Lapwing” or “ Peewit” of England, and is a rarer bird in Egypt than at home. But if you look sharp out, you ought to see it at least once or twice in a run up the river, in small or larger flocks—I do not ever remember to have seen it singly. Why I have chosen this bird as one of our fifty is, because go where you will, north or south, you see the undoubted counterfeit presentment of this bird engraven on the walls of all the temples. Many see it, but are misled by the rather mad armlike-looking thing brandished out in front of the bird’s face, and never see the undoubted portrait of a Plover till it is actually pointed out. Why this bird should have been chosen, and why the owl and the vulture should have been selected from the great mass of Egypt’s birds, we cannot explain, but can only draw attention to the fact, tad 112 EGYPTIAN BIRDS and find interest in the thought that just as now this bird may be seen, so in the old far-away dynastic days it must have been a familiar bird, or it would certainly not have been selected for use in picture and hieroglyph. Some few breed in Egypt, it is said; but certainly the bulk all go north and west when spring-time comes. This is the bird that supplies gourmands with their annual dainty of Plovers’ eggs; it lays four in the simplest of nests—a mere slight depression in the ground—and as soon as the young are hatched, within a few hours of actual birth into the outer world, they are running about nimbly on their own little legs, and, at the instigation of their fond parents, catching flies and insects with their own little bills. In this matter of the helplessness, or reverse, of newly-hatched birds, is a most interest- ing field for research. The proud eagle’s young are, for a long time, as helpless as our own babies, and, it is alleged, have sometimes to be forcibly pushed out of the home; whilst, as we have seen, Plovers’ young are born almost self-supporting. And this precocity, as it seems, is also seen in young ducklings, and in all the so-called game-birds: all they ask for is their mother’s wings to protect them against the weather, and warmly shelter them at night. IMEC endl ia Hh ey aly Li veteeas ee He is a) Na i eA ; A ; i “¢ t 1 4 if Y 1 i i * , fap . ' ; y uy an A 2 ; ¥ ‘ i A af ancy i 4 . . SPUR-WINGED PLOVER Hoplopterus spinosus Arabic, Zic-zac Crown, nape, chin, centre of throat, breast, and tail black ; white cheeks, white under and above tail, back and sides of wings a grey-brown, a sharp hard spuron point of shoulder, bill, feet and legs black, eyes rich crimson. Entire length, 12 ins. WHETHER this or the Black-headed Plover is to have the honour of being the bird Herodotus has made famous will probably ever be a matter for the Schoolmen to argue over, but lately I came across Dr. Leith Adam’s note, explaining the reason why he insists that the Spur-winged Plover is the real friend of the crocodile and not the Black-headed,— 2.€. “ Codling not Short.” “The crocodile, tired of keeping its jaws wide open, just shuts them, to the everlasting peril of the bird; were it not for those two sharp spurs on his wings he of course would be suffocated and later doubtless swallowed, but by these spurs, when the roof comes down on the top of him, he just reminds his patron of his existence, by jabbing the tenderest parts of the interior of his mouth.” This is said invariably to refreshen the sleepy crocodile’s faculties, so that he remembers 113 15 114 EGYPTIAN BIRDS his faithful dentist and immediately opens his jaws and releases the prisoner, to whom one hopes he expresses profound regret. It is to be seen on the sand-banks in Lower Egypt, but gets noticeably less frequent as one journeys into Upper Egypt, and one is disposed to think is growing less in number year by year, as so many of the pure river-side birds are, by reason of the now continually passing, noisy, wash-pro- ducing steamers. It seems to be distinctly a quarrelsome bird, anyhow when breeding, and both male and female are more often than not to be seen having some row or another with some poor inoffensive bird who has ventured too near their nest. At times it stands up practically perpendicular, and jerks its head and body up and down with clock- work regularity till the cause of its upset has ceased, when it draws in its head and sinks it deep between its shoulders, as is shown in the accompanying drawing. Its nest is a mere de- pression in the sand, and it lays three or four eggs which are very similar to our common Green Plover or Lapwing. Von Heuglin relates a Mohammedan legend : That Allah, having asked all things great and small SPUR-WINGED PLOVER SPUR-WINGED PLOVER 115 to come to a great feast, all came except this Plover. Allah rebuked him. The Plover said he had fallen asleep and forgot all about the fixture. Allah, who knows all things, knew he lied, and answered, “Then from this time forth thou shalt know no sleep,” and he made these two spurs to grow on the points of his shoulders so that he shall suffer great pain if he try to sleep by putting his head under his wing. BLACK-HEADED PLOVER Pluvianus aegyptius Arabic, Ter el timsah Top of head black, as also is a band through eye which meets the black and across chest; wing and sides of back a very beautiful pale lilac blue-grey, under-parts white, lower throat and flanks a creamy rufous, legs bluish, eye brown. Total length, 8-5 inches. THIs is regarded as quite certainly the bird known in ancient days as the Crocodile Bird. It was held to be the faithful attendant of this fear- some reptile, warning it of danger: and when the creature it fed was full, this little bird was supposed to attend to the proper cleaning of the ogre’s teeth ! For this purpose, we are told, the crocodile would lie quietly with its great mouth wide open whilst this brave little dentist ran about briskly right into the open jaws and deftly removed noisome leech or scrap of food left between those ugly fangs, and never showing the slightest fear. It is a pretty story, but as there are now no crocodiles in Egypt proper, the ordinary traveller has no chance of seeing if this be so or no. But though the crocodiles are gone the Black-headed Plover is 116 BLACK-HEADED PLOVER BLACK-HEADED PLOVER inky still to be seen by those going up or down by water. Mr. E. Cavendish Taylor, writing in 1867, says, “This bird is abundant all along the Nile above Cairo, wherever the banks of the river are muddy.” Captain Shelley in 1870, referring to it, says, “It is plentifully distributed throughout Egypt and Nubia, but it is most abundant in Upper Egypt between Siool and Thebes.” I myself saw it many times in 1875, whilst going up and returning, in good quiet-fashioned way, by dahabeah ; but when I again went over the same ground in 1908, although going very slowly and stopping every day, I only find, from my notebook, that we saw it three or four times in our six weeks’ journey from Thebes to Cairo. All that we saw were wild and anything but the confiding birds one has been taught to regard them. I think by far the most notable thing about this bird is its curious habit of laying its eggs on the sand, and then care- fully burying them with the clear purpose of letting the genial sun do the bulk of the work of hatching out. Captain Verner gives a most interesting and detailed account of watching the movements of one of these birds on a sandbank. He went to the place, he writes, “‘ And at the precise spot turned over the sand, and about half an inch below the surface 118 EGYPTIAN BIRDS discovered three fresh eggs, which the artful bird had completely buried. . . . Still I was unable to account in my own mind for the very energetic movements to and from the water which I had witnessed on this occasion, until I received an account from a cousin, Lieutenant George Verner, of the Borderers, who was stationed about forty miles farther down the river than I was, which solved the mystery, as follows :—‘On 25th April I was waiting in a boat alongside of a sandbank, and my attention was attracted by a pair of Black- headed Plovers which kept flitting about quite close to me. I noticed that one of them was continually wetting its breast at the water’s edge about ten yards below our boat, and then running up the bank to a spot about the same distance in- shore of us, when it would squat down and remain about two minutes or so, after which it would get up, and, running down to the water’s edge above us, fly round to the spot where it had dabbled previously. .. . At the spot where the bird had been crouching I found a clutch of eggs half buried in the sand, their tops only being visible ; the sand immediately surrounding them was moist, although the bank I was on was an expanse of dry burning sand.” From this it seems clear, as BLACK-HEADED PLOVER 119 Captain Verner says, that this plover has learnt that with judicious damping, the sand and the sun will do the hatching, thereby removing the necessity of having to spend long days and nights brooding over the eggs. It is, however, very curious that no other of the large number of birds that lay their eggs on the desert sand or hard dry mud-banks should do this: and especially curious since these birds are first cousins, as one might say, to the Spur-winged Plover—which breeds often within a few hundred yards of where Black-headed ones are —and this bird sits continuously till the young are hatched. ‘The egg resembles that of the Red Grouse and is not very plover-like in character— indeed, some ornithologists will have it this bird is not really a Plover, but is more allied to the Coursers. LITTLE RINGED-PLOVER Aegialitis minor General colour of upper plumage a delicate grey-brown ; under plumage white, with a black bar through the eye, and a dark mark on the forehead, bordered at its lower and upper margin with white; and a rich black collar going nearly all round body; legs reddish. ‘Total length, 6°5 inches. Tuis bird no one can fail to see, as, though it is in other countries a shy bird, it is here amazingly tame and familiar. By the river, by canal-side, round every small pool or watercourse, there you will see this cheerful little compact-shaped bird. All last winter, 1907-8, I had seen great numbers in the Thebes district, but in this winter of 1909 I have on Lake Menzaleh seen literally thousands of Ring-Plover. I cannot be sure they were all “the Little Ring-Plover” ; that they were Ring-Plovers, I am certain, but as there are three species of Ring - Plover —the Great, the Middle, and the Little (and Captain Shelley strangely gives the dimensions of the Middle form as smaller than the Little)—it is safest not to be too dogmatic, and only call them Ring-Plovers. It is a very active bird, incessantly on the search for food, 120 RINGED-PLOVER LITTLE RINGED-PLOVER 121 and the pace that those little legs can go, when they do their best, is amazing. It has a charming way of ever and anon stopping suddenly still and looking steadily at you, with head held very slightly aside, seeming to try to read right through you, and discover if you are friend or foe. When it flies its wings are seen to be very sharp and pointed, and bearing some resemblance to a snipe’s—a bird it is often made to do duty for by those romancers, the native gunners, who tempt the uninitiated to accompany them for snipe- shooting, and assure the new-comer these poor little Plover are Snipe—*“ Egyptian ” Snipe. THE SNIPE Gallinago coelestis Top of head, back, and upper feathers of wings dark brown, in parts nearly black with a bluish gloss, two buff streaks on each side of shoulders; face and chest spotted with dusky brown, whilst the flanks are barred with the same colour ; tail bright chestnut, barred with black and tipped with white ; legs greenish ; bill brown, at base flesh colour; eyes dark brown. Length, 11:5 inches. THE Snipe in some parts of Upper Egypt are so extraordinarily tame—and hardly behave as Snipe do generally—that I have no doubt they are often seen by many who never recognise them as Snipe at all. At the Sacred Lake at Karnak I have seen veritable processions of visitors, headed by a talk- ing dragoman, walk along the path quite near one which was standing at the water’s edge, and if none left the pathway it would remain stolid, but if any boy, or workman, came down to bathe or drink, it just flew across to the other side and at once settled down again. And in the very early morning before the workers arrive, I have stood right on the shore, not screened or hidden in any way, and had Snipe dibbling about in the water not more than five or 122 THE SNIPE 123 six yards away. The first time this happened I thought the bird must be wounded or unable to fly, but it was not, and it is only one more proof of the benefit that the Antiquities Department has pro- duced by exercising its authority over the areas it controls. No shooting is allowed on “ Antiquities ground, and birds very soon get to know this, gain confidence, and lose all their natural shyness. Needless to say, in those parts where they are shot they behave as warily as Snipe do at home, and are up and away with their curious “scarpe, scarpe” ery. Years ago the Delta was one of the best snipe-grounds in the world, and an old sportsman in Cairo told me of his getting 93 couples in a day, and as late as 1902 a certain five days’ shooting gave an average of 72 couple per day. In nearly all such bags some Jack Snipe were obtained ; and in Mr. M. J. Nicoll’s notes on birds met with at Menzaleh the Jack Snipe is given as the commoner of the two species. There is nothing to show that Snipe ever breed in Egypt, though there are many localities where it well might, and it is another of the great army of winter migrant visitors that go to the north as spring comes on. It lives entirely on insects and worms, which it procures by probing the soft, black 124 EGYPTIAN BIRDS mud with its long, sensitive bill. I have seen Snipe in most unlikely places, and once saw one fly right through an open space at the Ramaseum Temple. From my notes of a night’s watching at a pool I borrow the following: “14th January, 7.30 P.M.— Snipe are squawking, and can hear them coming in on all sides throughout night, which is a dark one ; could hear only faint rippling noise at intervals, as some duck or wader moved about, and the earliest call was at 3 a.M., when a Snipe squawked once or twice, then silence again, and only a faint, far-away dog’s bark, and a cricket in the sand- bank near my side began churring. At 5 a.m. great splashing at end of pool, and coot began moving. No light showed till after 6, and then one could see duck feeding and moving off, and again little wisps of Snipe went over my head and away.” THE WOODCOCK Scolopax rusticula The plumage is grey below, faintly barred on flanks. The head barred on top and spotted on sides. The wings are rich chestnut-brown with transverse bars of black ; a narrow stripe of rich yellow triff edged with black runs along the scapulars ; tail short and pointed, barred with chestnut and black, is tipped with grey above and pure white beneath. Legs a pale flesh colour ; beak reddish at base, brown at tip. Eyes, peculiarly large and of a rich brown, are placed more backward than in most birds. Total length, 14°25 inches. ACCOUNTS in 1907-8 show that the Woodcock has been obtained fairly frequently, and a case was told me of two being obtained literally by the side of the road from Cairo to the Pyramids in one morning. It is very usual to deplore the existence of “the man with the gun” without in the least really considering the whole matter. That certain men with guns shoot at everything and at all times, breeding season or otherwise, and without any object in killing their victims, is of course deplorable ; but the killing of birds in season that can be used as food for man is no offence whatever. Further, from observant good sportsmen has come a full half of all the knowledge of birds that exists, and this 125 126 EGYPTIAN BIRDS cannot be too often dwelt upon, as enthusiasts run riot on this subject, and do damage to a good cause by injudicious condemnation. The accompany- ing illustration is a small example of what I mean. All know that birds, like ourselves, have eyes and ears, and one knows that the relative positions thereof are as in ourselves—the ear lies behind the eye. No book that I am aware of has any intimation that any other order exists ; Fic. 7. Head of Woodcock, to show the position of the Ear. but one day, a winter or so ago, I shot a Wood- cock, and for the purpose of making a minute study of the bird examined it closely, when I found that the ear was in front of the eye. I at once consulted all my bird books, but found no reference to this strange fact. I then examined ten other birds, and though they varied individually, not one but had the ear somewhat in front of the eye. The woodcock’s food is mainly obtained by AM NOS ra rm Ll Zz n Zz ° = = ° 1o) PRA: rae) ee THE WOODCOCK 127 probing. Its bill is richly supplied with very delicate nerves, and it probes the soft mud and ooze in search of those grubs and insects that live there. It also feeds on worms that it obtains above ground, and indeed has a varied diet. THE PAINTED SNIPE Rhynchoea capensis Head and neck a rich red-brown, darkest on the lower neck or breast ; dark streak through eye; buff marking from beak to top of head; back a changing brown with purple and green reflections on the wing, barred with darker mark- ings ; the large wing-feathers have rows of bright buff spots on their outer margins; rump a dark slaty grey with darker wavy bars; buff stripes on shoulders ; legs greenish; beak reddish-brown ; eyes brown. Length, 9°3 inches. THis name is unfortunate, for some people seem to imagine that the bird will be found to have paint on it, like a painted Sparrow! ‘Though a handsomely marked bird, those who have shot much say that as a sporting bird it is not to be compared with the common Snipe, as it rises slowly, it does not twist or zig-zag about, and is content with a very short flight. It is a resident bird, and breeds in May in Lower Egypt. I met with it at Lake Menzaleh when there in April, and it possibly is more common throughout the country than is imagined, as it lies very close in cover, and rarely shows itself unless compelled to by being almost trodden upon. 128 THE AVOCET Recurvirostra avocetta Whole plumage white, excepting the following parts, which are black—top of head and back of neck, a band between the shoulders, inner part of scapulars, wing-coverts, and prim- aries; beak long and slender, and turned upwards; legs, slaty-blue-green colour. ‘Total length, 17 inches. I wave included this bird because it is like the Spoonbill, so singular in the form of its bill, and so interesting to us, because at one time it was fairly common in Great Britain. If it is seen it ought to be easily identified, not only because of its black and white plumage, but also because of the curious sweeping movement it makes with its bill as it searches the water for its prey, something sug- gestive of a mower with a scythe. Captain Shelley says it is met with in large flocks on the Nile, but I have only seen it in very small parties, six being the largest number that I have seen together on the river, but at Lake Menzaleh I have seen hundreds together. Von Heuglin says they are very abund- ant on the shores of the Red Sea, but on the two occasions I was on those shores—the last time at Kosseir—I was not fortunate enough to observe it. On the sandbanks—those that are very low, with wet spots and little pools—it can be seen better 129 17 130 EGYPTIAN BIRDS than when they are in big flocks on the salt lakes. Those who travel up and down the Nile in the only way one should do the river journey, namely, by sailing dababeah, should keep a good lookout for this beautiful bird; but I fear that those who pass by in great steamers have less chance, as I have often noticed when my boat has been moored to the bank that on the approach of these monsters pouring out their black clouds of smoke, every bird, great and small, hurries off in disgust if not in absolute alarm. The Avocet is not a permanent resident in Egypt, but comes from a northern home to winter here. It is entirely dependent on the water for its food, obtaining therefrom endless minute specks of life by means of its bill, moved from side to side on the top, or just under the sur- face of the muddy pools. When at Lake Menza- leh in March and April I saw great flocks of many hundreds just near the last sandbank that separates the lake from the Mediterranean, and Mr. M. J. Nicoll has seen it there in January. They are web-footed, a peculiarity that they share with the Flamingo, another very long - legged wading bird, but whereas the latter is really in form rather an ugly, ungainly bird, the Avocet is peculiarly elegant and graceful in all its movements. & a ©) ie) > < THE SACRED IBIS Ibis aethiopica General plumage white; a mass of almost hair-like feathers falls over the wings and tail—these feathers are a rich metallic black with deep blue reflections; head and neck bare of all feathers, showing black wrinkled skin ; beak and legs black; eyes brown. Length, 28 inches. Tuis is one of the birds the selection of which I fully expect to get criticism on. But I have chosen it for two reasons that, I think, justify its inclusion. The first is, that from one cause or another the Sacred Ibis is a bird so wrapped up with all our ideas of Egypt, and almost representative of the birds of Egypt, that most, although they do not know the bird, are interested in its existence. The second is one that follows this known interest, namely, the exposing of the dragoman’s oft-repeated impudent lie, that he can, and does, show the new- comer Sacred Ibises, whereas he does not and cannot. Why, exactly, this bird was treated with reverence in its lifetime as a sacred being, and embalmed and mummified when dead, is not known. That it was is certain ; and most museums can show many 131 132 EGYPTIAN BIRDS many examples. Then again, it was taken and placed on the body of a man, and made a symbol of the god Thoth, who presided over arts, in- ventions, writing, and literature. So it has come to pass that all of us, before even our first visit to the Nile, know of this bird, anyhow by name, and being here, very naturally desire to see it. The dragoman, being asked so frequently to point out Sacred Ibises, long ago settled that it would be best to please and humour his patrons, and deter- mined to call all Egrets, Spoonbills, and Buff- backed Herons, being white birds with long necks and legs, Sacred Ibises. ‘Time after time I have been solemnly informed that four or five, or a round dozen, Ibises had been seen at such a place. On inquiry I have been told there could be no mistake, as dear So-and-so, the dragoman, had pointed them out and assured all and sundry that they were “genuine Sacred Ibis.” And though strange, it is true, people prefer to believe a lie if it confirms what they wish, than the truth if it does not. The sad truth is, there are no Sacred Ibises in Egypt at all, and the dragomans—any- how, most of them—know this elementary bit of ornithology perfectly well, but they prefer to lie, and live in the perpetual atmosphere of mild SACRED x oF nk - 1 : ¥ - ; 4 £4 PP —y Tie , y) F: ian \; ha PS oes oj eg o> ao q ¥ te FO PE te a ~ 4 ae = = t : eo IBIS AND PAPYRUS THE SACRED IBIS 133 admiration and interest that follows their every utterance. No, the first place that you can at all safely look for Ibis in is south of Kartoom. It needs the great jungle-like brakes of papyrus that grow rampantly along the river-course, and which help to constitute the dread “sudd” of those waters. Immense masses of it, we are told, get torn off and detached when the new year’s flood comes rushing down, and along with other masses go floating onwards till they meet with some stoppage and then they form a dam, new masses coming down and down, till there may be miles of this floating jungle, which can, and does, get so packed and compressed by the weight behind it that it becomes nearly solid. In country like that the Ibis lives, and that is, all will see at once, not the country that Egypt is like, and therefore the Ibis is an absentee from the big, gently-flowing Nile from Assoan to Alexandria. Was it ever common in ancient Egypt? Not unless the conditions of those days were markedly different to these. The river rose each year then as now, and then as now by its rise and rush of waters must have kept the channel clear and the banks bare; but it is possible that there may have been at certain points big swamps where the papyrus grew, which have 134 EGYPTIAN BIRDS now become cultivated ground. This view might be taken from the extensive use of papyrus in dynastic days, almost implying that it grew commonly near at hand. What is certain, how- ever, is that it does not do so now; and Ibis and papyrus are so joined together that, the one being absent, the other is also. In the plate I have there- fore shown Ibis in a regular jungle of papyrus.' There is something strange, almost weird, about the appearance of this bird, with his bald black head; something almost priestly about the black and white drooping wings forming a vestment from which springs the thin, black, naked neck and back. Some will see none of these things, and only find a resemblance to an ugly vulture. It is rather a moody sort of bird, and does not get on over well with other birds when kept in confinement. It eats nearly anything that comes out of the water, and is especially partial to a nice young fat frog. 1 It was by M. Legran’s courtesy that I was allowed to make my first drawings of papyrus, from some that was found growing in the garden of his charming house at Karnak. ie THE CRANE Grus communis The whole of the body a delicate lilac grey, flight feathers dark. Secondary wing-feathers very long, covering with a plume-like mass the wings and tail. Sides of face white, as are the sides of neck, which is black in front; top of head black, the centre of the crown bare of feathers and of a brilliant red; beak greenish-yellow ; eyes red-brown. Total length, 46 inches. CRANES will only be seen flying in flocks high in air, or else resting after a day’s flight on some sandbank by the river-side. As soon as they have rested, fed, and refreshed themselves, they are up and away again, and, as far as I know, they do not now remain anywhere in Egypt a day longer than is necessary. ‘They are as rapid in their visits as the most scampering of tourists, who only allot so many days for a whole continent. But owing to the enormous numbers that there are of these birds, some of the migrating armies of them may be seen either in the autumn when they are all going due south, or on the break-up of the winter when they are all going due north. It seems strange that they should get so far north as 135 136 EGYPTIAN BIRDS Lapland and Siberia, but that they do there is abundance of proof; and it must always be remembered that these migrant birds seem to choose the most northerly point of their migration to breed and rear their young, so that when you see flocks wending their way back in the spring- time all up the Nile valley you must picture them as on their way to their northern homes, either in North Germany, Russia, or Scandinavia. They make but a rough nest on the ground in some parts of the great marshes they love, on little islands or tussocks of coarse grass. Only two eggs are laid, of a rich brown colour with dark spots: and the young are especially lively, running about with ease a few days after being hatched. Therein they contrast strongly with the young of the Heron, which remain in the nest for long weeks, and must have every scrap of food brought right up to their nursery. 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