34 Bird Notes from the Nile. 



CHAPTER IV. 



" Then all the burdis sang with voice on hight, 

 Whose mirthful sound was marvellous to hear." 



— Dunbar. 



AMONG Egyptian birds perhaps none 

 are more fascinating than the 

 Hoopoes. Every day they may 

 be seen, near the mud villages or on the 

 river banks, always fussy and inquisitive- 

 looking, peering round every corner and 

 thrusting their long bills into every hole, 

 or dressing their smart feathers on the top 

 of some sun-baked wall. They are very 

 sociable birds, and their monotonous call 

 of "Hoop-hoop-hoop" may be heard at 

 almost every place along the whole length 

 of the Nile Valley. 



While sketching in the temple at Kom 

 Ombo, a pair of Hoopoes amused me 

 very much. They were rather timid 

 for a time, but were so anxious to see 

 what I was and what I was doing that 

 at last their curiosity got the better of 

 their shyness, and, as I kept perfectly still. 



