26



Lady Wm. Cecil,



The Short-toed Eagle ( Circaetus gal liens) and the Saker

Falcon ( Fa/co sacer) I think range the furthest. The Eagle we

saw in the desert behind Korosko, also at Dendereh, and in the

desert round the Fayuni, as well as much further from the Nile.

The Saker falcon, at El Kab and south-west of Abou Simbel,

and many miles into the desert beyond the Alabaster quarries

near Aswan. The parasitic Kite ( Milvus aegyptius ) which is met

with everywhere in the Nile Valley, we noted building among

the ruins of Meroe.


At Gebel Es Silseleh we found the Egyptian Eagle Owl

(.Bubo ascalaphus) ; not quite so large as the European Eagle Owl,

it is, nevertheless, a very fine bird, with larger, more indistinct

spots on its buff and white plumage. When angry or alarmed it

puffs itself out into an enormous ball of fluff and feathers, spreads

its wings downwards, like a turkey cock, lowers its head, and

snaps its beak and hisses in a very fierce manner.


A few other owls inhabit the desert. For instance, the

pretty little Scops Owl {Scops gin) builds among the rocks, and

in rock-hewn tombs, far from the river. We disturbed a little

family party of Scops, in the tombs in the hills behind El Kab;

and in the more distant tombs in the desert, east of Tel El

Amarna, were two or three pairs.


I suppose the handsomest of desert birds is the Houbara

Bustard ( Houbara undulata) but we sought him in vain. They

are said to have become, of late years, exceedingly rare, but still

are now and again to be sighted on the desert side of the Fayuni,

or between the Nile and the oasis of El Kargeh.


A real lover of the open desert is the Cream-coloured

Courser {Cursorius gallicus). This bird truly earns its apellation,

for it runs ‘like the wind ! ’ It seems to prefer to use its white

legs instead of its wings, though I have once or twice seen it fly.

In November, one year, we noticed a Courser between Waddv

Haifa and the Second Cataract, and in February, two years later,

saw three of these birds in almost the same place. They are said

to cower in the sand to hide themselves like partridges when

pursued, but I have never seen them do this. Those we frightened

ran away, and in an extraordinarily short time were lost sight of,

reappearing again at some distance, flying further into the desert.



