Bird Notes from the Nile. 31 



Southern Little Owl first at Abou Simbel. 

 Being the earliest travellers of the year, 

 arriving there at sunrise one morning in 

 November, we disturbed many of these 

 little brown gentlemen from their roosting 

 places on the heads of the wonderful 

 *' Osiris" figures, which stand as pillars 

 inside that marvellous rock-hewn temple. 

 The fluffy, soft Barn Owl is often to be 

 found, blinking in the dark corners of 

 many an ancient building, and in rocky 

 places one may sometimes meet the little 

 Scops Owl. While our boat was anchored 

 in the afternoon below the quarries on the 

 western bank of the river at the Gebel 

 Silsileh, I saw a very large owl among the 

 rocks. I supposed it to be an Egyptian 

 Eagle Owl, but could not see it clearly 

 enough to be certain, and never caught 

 sight of it again. 



At Luxor, towards the end of March, 

 we went one night to see the moon rise 

 over the great temple of Karnak, one of 

 the most weird and wonderful sights 

 imaginable. When we arrived, we found 

 we had at least half-an-hour to wait before 

 the moon would appear above the horizon. 



