Bird Notes from the Nile. 49 



CHAPTER V. 



^^ 



" And the sixth, ' In Cairo fair, 

 On a lofty minaret, 

 Mud headquarters, lined with hair, 

 Make me winter quite forget.' 



•"At the Second Cataract,' 



Says the last, ' 'mid beauties brown, 

 Is my nest ; the place exact 

 Is a granite monarch's crown.' " 

 " What the Swallows Say " — Theophile Gauiier, 



trans. Tom Dutt. 



WE often went for long rides 

 across the desert, and into the 

 hills on the western banks of 

 the river, following the narrow valleys, 

 and picking our way among fallen rocks 

 and the broken fragments of ancient 

 quarries. Here the Ravens build, the 

 big Brown-necked Raven and also the 

 smaller and rarer Abyssinian Raven, with 

 stumpy beak and odd moustache. This 

 bird looks like the *' monstrous crow " of 

 nursery rhyme fame, and might well have 

 alarmed poor Tweedledum and Tweedle- 

 dee. 

 The Pale Crag Swallows, too, live in 



B.N. E 



