50 Bird Notes from the Nile. 



this rocky district, and also among the 

 stones and boulders in the river. These 

 birds are residents, and so, too, are the 

 pretty little Oriental Chimney Swallows. 

 They are much deeper in colour than the 

 common Chimney Swallow, the under- 

 part being all reddish brown, not shading 

 into cream like their Northern relations. 

 The Oriental Chimney Swallow builds in 

 the mosques, minarets, and houses of the 

 towns and villages, and in ancient tombs 

 and temples. We found on the inside 

 wall of one of the tombs we excavated the 

 remains of a swallow's nest, black with 

 age. It must have been built there at 

 least a thousand years ago. 



Beyond these rocky hills is a vast, 

 pathless, baking-hot desert, a wonderfully 

 wild and desolate country, and yet even 

 here are traces of animal life : the spoor 

 of jackal, fox, and hyena, and the little 

 jerboa ; the winding trail of the snake or 

 the fern-like track of the beetle, and also 

 the footprints of birds, great and small, 

 which inhabit this barren land. 



The Egyptian Goat-sucker is one of 

 these, and also the Sand Grouse, which 



