EGYPTIAN BIRDS 13 



it might come to pass that some future engineer 

 would turn his attention to this great area of waste 

 water, and turn it into profitable cultivated ground, 

 and then the birds would be driven away here as 

 completely as they were in England when our fens 

 and meres were drained to make good corn land. 

 Therefore, this proposal to let in more Nile water is 

 of much importance to Menzaleh remaining the 

 great stronghold of bird life in Egypt. At present 

 the spectacle it presents of its crowds of birds seen 

 under the almost constant blue sky, is one that 

 all would be very sorry to lose. The Flamingo 

 come as its crowning glory, but the list of birds is 

 long, and Mr. M. J. Nicoll tells how in only one 

 week's stay, at Gheit-el-Nassara, on the north-west 

 side of the lake, he met with no less than eighty- 

 seven species. The ordinary visitor to Egypt 

 hurries away from Alexandria or Port Said, but 

 any who love Nature ought to leave a few days for 

 places other than the Nile, if they are to obtain 

 anything at all like a complete knowledge of 

 Egyptian Birds. 



