210 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



never saw an Egret consorting with them, though I have 

 occasionally seen the two species flying side by side. The 

 Buff-back is the smaller bird, and may always be told at a 

 distance by the shape and colour of his bill. 



One of the most interesting sights at the Faioum was a 

 breeding place of these birds — at that time (June) — in the 

 most luxuriant plumage. A colony of, I should say, five 

 hundred of them, had chosen a large bed of dead tamarisks 

 for their breeding place. None had young, and a good 

 many had not yet completed the process of building. 

 Three was the commonest number in those nests which had 

 eggs, but in one I counted seven. They stand from two to 

 five feet above water-mark, and are made of branches snapped 

 off dead tamarisks hard by, or picked up on the shore. 

 One only had mud in its composition. Several were lined 

 with a few reeds. They are not very large, the diameter 

 being about a foot. Many of the old birds were carrying 

 sticks about, which at a distance gave them the appearance 

 of very long-beaked birds ; albeit, all I saw near were carry- 

 ing them crossways. At sunrise troops of them might be 

 seen going south to forage in the fields as far as Medinet, or 

 further ; yet at nine o'clock they are not all off their eggs, 

 and a visitor at eleven would find lOO or 200 which have 

 already returned, or are perhaps staying there to keep 

 guard and watch against other birds which might be tempted 

 to steal from the nests. In the evening again it was very 

 amusing to watch them like Rooks going home laden with 

 locusts and beetles which they had caught in the fields 

 of young sugar-cane and doura-corn, some following the 

 sinuosities of the shore, some flying along the Bar El Wady 

 canal (with the Cormorants and an occasional Egret), 

 some passing straight over the tents, their white forms 

 stand out clearly against the still blue water, all are 

 bound for the same haven, a few, earlier than the rest, 

 have their beaks open as if panting from the heat. 



