32



Lady Wm. Cecil,



away, drink their fill, and as swiftly return whence they came.

The early dawn is the time they are generally seen on the Nile

banks.


A curious instance of the instinct of the Sand Grouse fly¬

ing direct to water, was witnessed by a party of travellers in the

desert in 1864.


The weather was frightfully hot, as it was in the month of

July, the water in the goat-skins had gone bad, and on reaching

the halting place, where they expected to replenish the supply,

they found the well dry! They were suffering terribly from

thirst, but were obliged to continue this journey, as they feared

the attack of a hostile tribe, so they dare not retrace their

steps.


Towards evening one of the party, a keen sportsman, and

observer of bird-life, noticed a pack of Sand Grouse making for

some distant hill. “ Those Grouse are flying towards water,” he

exclaimed ; but the Arab Chief, by whom they were accompanied,

shook his head doubtfully. “True,” he replied, “there are

springs in those mountains, but alas ! Khawjeh, at this time of

year, they will be dry!” The traveller however, insisted 011

following the birds, and found to his great joy, and the relief of

all, that the intelligence of these little feathered guides was

proved, for after a long, weary ride they discovered, in a hollow

of the rocky hills, a beautiful, clear spring of deliciously cold,

fresh, water.


Some years ago a pack of Sand Grouse (Syrrhaptes para¬

doxus) spent the winter in Norfolk, and we timed their flight

from their chosen haunt to the lake, where they came to drink

every morning ; they covered the distance of two and a half

miles in about a minute and a half


We once, for some time, had a pet Sand Grouse in a cage

which it shared with a tame Cuckoo. This bird often uttered

its quaint call of “ Gutta, gutta” (hence its Arab name) when

seated at the bottom of its cage; thus in captivity, at least, it

refuted the theory, that the bird only calls when on the wing. It

was amusing to hear the “Gutta gutta” while its companion

flew from perch to perch calling “ Cuckoo cuckoo,” a very quaint

duet!



