SIX months' bird collecting in EGYPT. 211 



The first I skinned — which was shot at Boulac — contained 

 eleven frogs. Another a green caterpillar and some grain. 

 Another locusts. They are said not to feed on fish (Ibis, 

 1863, p. 37,). 



Hasselquist (pp. 85, 195, 198) gives interesting particulars 

 of the habits of a white Heron which he considered to be the 

 Sacred Ibis, but which was in reality Ardm biibnlais \ cf. 

 Savigny's Histoire de I'lbis, p. 6. 



174. Squacco Heron, Ardcola comata (Pall.) ; 



" Uak abiad zugaiar." 



On the 25th January I shot a Squacco Heron at 

 Damietta. It was wading in a reedy lake with some Red- 

 shanks, but when I first saw it, it was alone. We did not 

 meet with the species again until the i8th of April, when a 

 second was shot from some rushes at the edge of the Nile 

 near Keneh. 



At the Faioum we saw some very handsome ones in June, 

 among the tamarisks, I surmise that a pair or two were 

 going to breed in company with the Buff-backs. They were 

 very different in plumage from the brown-backed bird which 

 I shot in January. 



175. Little Bittern, Ardctta minuta (Linn.). 



The only place where we met this bird was at the Faioum. 

 I had expected to find it there, as I was told that I should, 

 when at Cairo. It seemed however to be confined to one 

 small odoriferous swamp, where the water was a foot and a 

 half deep, and the reeds and bushes were above the height 

 of a man ; and I have no doubt it only comes here during 

 the time of nidification. We put up at least fifteen pairs in 

 a swamp of four acres. In spite of their slow ungainly 

 flight they rise to some height, but they have not the power 



