^"'k m'^"] Bi'RNEV, Ornithologist in Egypt and Palestine. 47 



seems, with Dante into anotlicr world, and a very unhealthy 

 world, too, for it reeks with IcNcr. \'v\-\ icw indeed of our men 

 — there ma\- he sonic, but 1 cauiint think ol any anioni; those I 

 know- put in the sunnnir months in the Jordan Valley 

 without, sooncT or later, hax'iui; to i^o into liosjMtal with fever 

 or debility. 



The chief tree in the valley — in fact, the only tiet', all else 

 being little better than bushes — stands 15 to 20 feet high, and is 

 a mass of thorns and hooks. The thorns are about 1;^- inches long, 

 and as thin and as sharp as needles, while the hooks arc small and 

 shaped like a tiger's claws, and are just as wicked. I do not 

 know the name of the tree, but I have heard it called the " Tree 

 of the Crown of Thorns," because the crown of thorns for our 

 Saviour is said to hav(^ In-en mad(^ from it, which I can quite 

 believe. Jerusalem would be onl\- alxjut 11 miles from the 

 X'alley. 



To return to the birds again. I had always imagined the 

 migrant British species as making for Africa via France and Spain, 

 and crossing the water at the Straits of Gibraltar, or perhaps a 

 bit farther along the Mediterranean ; but it is evident, it seems 

 to me, that a very large number take the overland route, and 

 follow the southern coast of Europe right round to Port Said, and 

 then probably follow the Nile. This way would avoid any long 

 sea journey, and give them good feeding-ground all the way. I 

 do not know what the northern coast of Africa is like, but I fancy 

 most of it is pretty barren and inhospitable, so that birds could 

 gain nothing by short-cutting across the Mediterranean. 



I was regimental quartermaster-sergeant for four or five months, 

 but the billet (quite a good one) meant my remaining at a base 

 camp 250 miles behind the firing-hne. This did not suit me, so 

 I threw it up, and went back to the ranks in order to get to tlie 

 front, and I have never regretted doing so. I have been, I think, 

 very fortunate, in my short term of service, in seeing so much. 

 In Palestine I saw Jerusalem, with the Mount of Olives and the 

 Garden of Gethsemane, Bethlehem, Jericho, Mount of Temptation, 

 the Jordan Valley, and the Dead Sea, besides many minor places 

 and hundreds of miles of country. 



Recently I have been having a particularly good tinu-. \•^)\' 

 three weeks I was doing duty at a fishing camp at a place called 

 Sayed, on the west coast of the Bitter Lakes, through which, you 

 will remember, the Suez Canal passes. There is a great abundance 

 of fish in these waters, which has created a fishing industry 

 entirely in the hands of the natives. For the protection of 

 shipping during the war, the Government stepped in and took 

 charge. Each boat that went out had to carry an armed soldier, 

 to see that none of the fishermen, in collusion with the Turks, 

 laid mines in the Canal. T]u> boats go out for 24 hours at a time, 

 sometimes remaining out a couple of nights. I found it all very 

 interesting — both the trips and the life generally. The 30-foot 

 boat, a " felucca " (invariably spoken of by the natives as a 



