66 Bird Notes from the Nile. 



times. The eggs are placed in little houses 

 kept at a high temperature, in which a 

 man lives, turning them till they are 

 hatched. 



The cooking of birds seems to have been 

 a simple process, and to have generally 

 consisted of spitting the fowl on a wooden 

 skewer and holding it over an open fire 

 till done, a fine grass or fibre brush being 

 used to remove the smuts. 



The giant reeds, the flowering rushes, and 

 feathery papyrus which spread in almost im- 

 penetrable masses in the marshes, formed 

 the covert for the wild birds. The exquisite 

 blue lotus, now, alas ! extinct in Egypt, 

 in those days floated on the calm surface 

 of the water. The Egyptian of old had 

 an intense love of flowers. 



In the temple services, funeral cere- 

 monies, royal banquets, and in fact every- 

 where that it was possible to make use of 

 flowers, they were sure to be seen, and 

 every Egyptian who could afford it had his 

 garden. They were, as far as we can tell, 

 formal in design, neatly divided by low 

 walls into plots and walks, and screened 

 from the sand-laden winds of the desert 



