100 EGYPTIAN BIRDS 



fly if they can possibly get out of your way by 

 running. I very well remember seeing them on 

 the old-time road from Kennah to Kosseir on the 

 Red Sea. I saw them first before reaching Wady 

 Hammamat, and then more frequently as we passed 

 through the ancient quarries. They seem to use 

 this old roadway as their regular feeding-ground, 

 for there, owing to the passage of caravans back- 

 wards and forwards, they find a perpetual source 

 of food from the frequent droppings. Their move- 

 ments were so quick and their little bodies so 

 round and plump that, even with my glass on 

 them, I could not settle the colour of their legs, 

 till I got a closer inspection of those in the Cairo 

 Zoological Gardens. As they run they utter a 

 little cheery sort of "cheep, cheep" call, and the 

 whole party seem always happy, if not in boisterous 

 spirits, which, when one considers the hardness of 

 their life in these sterile wastes, seems somewhat 

 remarkable. Grain and seeds are their staple food, 

 but I distinctly saw one once and again make a 

 dart at some passing insect, and no doubt here, as 

 at home, they love the ants' eggs that must exist, 

 as ants are ever present with you in this hot desert 

 country. As far as my own notes go, 1 do not 

 think they ever come down even to the outskirts 



