BIRD NOTES wo NEWS 



(Kirrular fetter issuett (Quarterly bv trje itonal ^orietn for trje 

 ^proteetion nf pirtis. 



Vol. II.— No. 2.] 



London : 3, Hanover Square, W. 



[JUNE 25, 1906. 



BIRD NOTES FROM AN EGYPTIAN 

 DIARY. 



Contributed by a Branch Secretary. 



HOROUGHLY to enjoy bird life in 

 Egypt it is best to be equipped with 

 a good pair of binoculars, and with 

 Captain Shelley's excellent book on 

 Eg) ptian Birds. Starting from Cairo late last 

 December on a trip up the Nile as far as the 

 second cataract, no fewer than between sixty and 

 seventy different kinds of wild birds were seen. 



One of the first things one noticed about the 

 birds in Egypt was that the few familiar British 

 species, such as Herons, Wagtails, Swifts, 

 Hoodie-crows, Sparrows, etc., were invariably 

 much paler and greyer in colour than they are in 

 England ; and one wondered whether this 

 feature was due to the fact that their surround- 

 ings were generally paler than in the more 

 northern countries. 



Ducks, waders, and birds of prey were con- 

 gregated in patches at intervals along the banks 

 of the river ; Tufted Duck, Pochards, Shovellers, 

 Teal, Pintails, Shelldrake, and Egyptian Geese 

 composed many of the various groups, while 

 great pale Herons without number seemed to be 

 stationed on sentry duty most of the way up. 



Enormous " bunches " of Spoonbills, showing 

 white in the distance, like masses of freshly 

 driven snow, were often associated with some few 

 of the Little Egret, on which the much prized 

 plumes were already beginning to appear. 



As we proceeded further south, many of the 

 1 Hicks gave way to Black and White Storks, 

 Demoiselle Cranes, a few Osprey, once a Black 

 Stork, an occasional Pelican, a few grey Flamin- 

 goes and one Avocet. The fact that so few of 

 the latter kinds were noticed may be partly 

 due to the difficulty of distinguishing objects 

 on a vibrating Nile boat, often under a blazing 

 sun, which has the tendency to tone down all 



things to much the same sandy-grey colour, 

 unless they are fairly near. 



Amongst the birds of prey first and foremost 

 was the omnipresent Kite, that extremely useful 

 and most beautiful bird ; surely few movements 

 better describe " poetry of motion " than the 

 eddying, swooping, floating flight of numbers of 

 Kites to the accompaniment of their shrill 

 cries .' The Egyptian and Griffon Vultures were 

 fine birds, but seemed almost oppressed by the 

 strenuousness of life, and lacked the careless 

 joyousness of their lesser relative. 



Of the smaller birds, Black-and-white King- 



