ON AERIAL LOCOMOTION. 305 



they move that not a ripple of the placid bosoui of the river, which 

 they almost touch, has marked their track. How wonderfully does their 

 progress contrast with that of creatures who are compelled to drag 

 their slow and weary way against the fluid a thousandfold more dense, 

 flowing' in strong and eddying current beneath them. 



Our pennant dro[)S listlessly, the wished-for north wind conieth not. 

 According to custom we step on shore, gun in hand. A flock of white 

 herons, or " buffalo-birds," almost within our reach, run a short distance 

 from the pathway as we api)roach them. Others are seen perched in 

 social groups upon the backs of tlie apathetic and mud-begrimed ani- 

 mals whose name they bear. Beyond tbe ripening dhourra crops w'hich 

 skirt the river-side, the land is covered with immense numbers of blue 

 l)igeons, flying to and fro, in shoals, and searching for food with rest- 

 less diligence. The musical whistle from the pinions of the wood-doves 

 sounds cheerily as they dart past with the speed of an arrow. Ever 

 and anon are seen a covey of the brilliant, many-colored partridges of 

 the district, whose long and pointed wings give them a strength and 

 duration of flight that seems interminable, alighting at distances be- 

 yond the possibility of marking them down, as we are accustomed to do 

 With their plumper brethren at home. But still more remarkable is the 

 spectacle which the sky presents. As far as the eye can reach it is 

 dotted with birds of prey of every size and description. Eagles, vult- 

 ures, kites, and hawks of manifold species, down to the small, swallow- 

 like, insectivorous hawk common in the Delta, which skims the surface 

 of the ground in pursuit of its insect prey. Xone seem bent on going 

 forward, but all are soaring leisurely round over the same locality, as if 

 the invisible element which supports them were their medium of rest 

 as well as motion. But mark that object sitting in solitary state in the 

 midst of yon plain ; what a magniticent eagle ! An approach to within 

 80 yards arouses the king of birds from his apathy, lie partly opens 

 his enormous wings, but stirs not yet from his station. On gaining a 

 few feet more he begins to icalk away, with half expanded but motion- 

 less wings. Now for the chance, tire! A charge of No. 3 from ll-bore 

 rattles audibly but iueflectively upon his densely feathered body ; his 

 walk increases to a run, he gathers speed with his slowly- waving wings, 

 and eventually leaves the ground. Rising at a gradual inclination, he 

 mounts aloft and sails majestically away to his place of refuge in the 

 Libyan range, distant at least 5 mdes from where he rose. Some frag- 

 ments of feathers denote the spot from where the shot had struck hinj. 

 The marks of his claws are traceable in the sandy soil, as, at tirst with 

 tirm and decided digs, he forced his way, but as he lightened his body 

 and increased his speed with the aid of his wings, the imprints of his 

 talons gradually merged into long scratches. The measured distance 

 from the point where these vanished to th<i place where he had stood, 

 proved that with all the stimulus th.it the shot must have given to his 

 exertions he had been compelled to run full 20 yards before he coukl 

 raise himself from the earth, 

 H. Mis. L>24 liO 



