Bird Notes from the Nile. 23 



pigeons are encouraged to build ; on the 

 outside, rows of brushwood, with the 

 bushy ends projecting, are built into the 

 structure, so as to form a tempting perch. 

 Pigeons are kept in these towers chiefly 

 for the sake of the manure, though I have 

 been told they are sometimes killed as food 

 for special feasts. There are apparently 

 two distinct kinds of pigeons in the 

 country, but it is practically unknown 

 which is the original wild pigeon of 

 Egypt. In the tomb we excavated — 

 which dates from the XlXth Dynasty 

 (1500 B.C.) — in the lovely flight of pigeons 

 there painted, all these birds have the 

 head, neck and upper part of the body 

 blue; the lower part, including the rump 

 and tail, white ; a row of black dots on 

 the edge of the wings and tail ; legs and 

 beak red. 



Our curiosity was aroused one morning, 

 when rowing across the river at Aswan, to 

 see a rock near the Western bank covered 

 with a flock of pigeons, which had lately 

 taken up their residence in the tower on 

 the " Sirdar's Island." We enquired the 

 cause of this unwonted disturbance, and the 



