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 



