86 EGYPTIAN BIRDS 



not till the end of February does it look the 

 brilliant pink bird described above ; then it is 

 almost impossible to over-describe its beauties, and 

 one is in some danger of over-painting it. Shelley 

 says that the young have the bill pale yellowish- 

 brown, but I have seen little flocks together, which 

 I take were families, in November, and every 

 member of the party had brilliant red beaks, 

 though otherwise they were all dull sandy colour. 

 This bird has a peculiar song or call-note that 

 is absurdly like that of a little tin trumpet, and 

 this call it continually utters, especially as it flits 

 about, so that it can thus often be identified even 

 when too distant to be accurately seen. It is really 

 a very common bird, but on account of its incon- 

 spicuous winter plumage, is not always noticed. 

 In December 1908, in walking across the cultivated 

 Thebes valley up to the Tombs of the Kings, I 

 must have seen many hundreds in those few miles, 

 and when I did not see them I could frequently 

 hear them. Most people really do not give them- 

 selves much chance of seeing any of the details 

 of bird-life, as they go everywhere on donkey 

 back, with chattering, ill-behaved boys as retinue, 

 and though the birds are tame, they naturally 

 fly away at the approach of these noisy cavalcades. 



