200 Dawn Amongst the Birds. 



some final directions to worship, and a Barn Owl or two silently 

 flits across. 



Over the roof like flashes of light, dart four or five 

 Kingfishers (Ceryle rud/s), going straight to the Nile to fish 

 therein ; they arc very noisy birds on the v/ing though looking 

 very beautiful hovering over the water to catch fish. Presently 

 two Egyptian geese {Chencdopex ncgyptiacus) hurl themselves 

 all round the garden, making a great amount of noise, also 

 Hooded Crows {Corvus comix) "caw" loudly, generally quite 

 close to me on the verandah railing I A small Kestrel {Falco 

 tiiiiuinciilus) circles round, uttering a shrill cry all the time, 

 lastly an Egyptian Kite {Alilvus aegyptius) with much wing- 

 flapping wheels up from some fir trees in great numbers, to 

 meet the sun that is just tinting the tops of the trees and 

 Palms vivid gold and shining! green, and all the individual 

 songs o- 1' birds merge into one great chorus of praise and 

 joy and I igive up h ope of going to sleep again, in fact I feel 

 rather pleased to have enjoyed the society of such a varied 

 number of happy uncaged birds. ... 



The History of the Budgerigar 



By E. Hopkinsox, D.S.O., M-.A., Etc. 



" Mons. Pauvvel, with that keen avicuhural zeal of his had dis- 

 covered the whereabouts of the original strain, heard of by many but 

 seen by very, very few. We were fully cognisant that a Dutchman 

 some 25 years ago had produced this charming varietyi,. but at his 

 death they had been disposed of, to whom and to what place they, 

 had been transferred remained unknown, until by sheer good lurk 

 and watchfulness, Mons. Pauv\els unearthed their obscurity. When once 

 this knowledge had become ours, the next question was to secure all 

 particulars, which were quickly forthcoming, only to confirm the facts 

 already known, that the then lucky possessor, a lady living in a re- 

 mote district of another country had secured the two pairs belonging to 

 the Dutchman at his death, and not being deeply inte^-ested in avi- 

 culture, but like matty others, kept birds for the love of them and 

 theii beauty, had daring the intervening years kept these birds in her 

 po.sscssion steadily, very steadily I should imagine, breeding them. 



" Mons. Pauvvel's desire in bird life being to possess the unique, 

 the next move was to either secure the existing lot, or as many as 



