54 Bird Notes from the Nile. 



badly wounded and fluttered away among 

 the rocks. I suppose he considered it 

 "sport," and it certainly was very "smart" 

 shooting, but I only hope the sportsman 

 heard and understood the bad names 

 which our native boatmen spontaneously 

 hurled at him as his boat passed ours on 

 the way home. 



Next evening we rowed as quietl}'' as 

 we could to the scene of this small 

 massacre, to look for some trace of the 

 Httle wounded bird, and we found him 

 in his accustomed place, looking very 

 dishevelled and crestfallen, and close 

 beside him was a white-winged Wagtail, 

 which had evidently taken pity on the 

 Kingfisher's forlorn condition, and had 

 come to bear him company. We found 

 by constant observation that this really 

 was the case, and that the Kingfisher and 

 the Wagtail roosted side by side every 

 night, anyhow during the remainder of 

 our stay at Aswan. 



We saw also this same man fire many 

 rounds at a Kite which was sitting on 

 a rock in the river. The foolish bird 

 would not move, and at last was hit, 



