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 



