Bird Notes from the Nile. 6i 



some other bird which disturbed the 

 calm stillness of the ** Eastern night." 



These familiar sounds were no doubt 

 heard in long-past centuries by those 

 who now, as silent mummies, are sleeping 

 beneath the golden sands. The ancient 

 Egyptians must have had a love for birds, 

 for there are so many of them sculptured 

 and painted in the ancient monuments. 

 These bird pictures are always wonder- 

 fully lifelike, and charming in design and 

 execution. It is difficult to say where the 

 best are to be found. Perhaps those in 

 the temple of Queen Hatsheptsut at Deir 

 el Bahari are altogether the most perfectly 

 finished, but the spirit with which those at 

 Tell el Amarna are drawn could hardly be 

 surpassed. 



The old Egyptians must also have 

 thoroughly enjoyed sport, and we see 

 many pictures which portray some 

 Pharaoh or great man in his light canoe, 

 made of papyrus stems, his wife and 

 sometimes also his children with him, bird- 

 hunting among the tall reeds of the lakes 

 and marshes, the hunter dexterously hurl- 

 ing his throwing-stick (like a boomerang) 



