THE FOSSIL FOREST. 15 



vated, in which there are some huge masses of granite. 

 These must have cost no small labour to convey to their 

 present site, as the nearest granite-quarries are at Assouan, 

 over six hundred miles to the south. The only birds we met 

 with at the Pyramids were the Lanner and Kestrel Falcons, 

 the Crag Swallow, Mourning Chat, and a stray Bifasciated 

 Lark, which truly desert-bird is rarely seen in Egypt. 



Returning to Cairo by the same way that we came, we 

 shot a few more ducks and an occasional snipe or two. The 

 black and white Kingfishers {Ceryle rudis) are very plentiful, 

 and never fail to attract attention as they hover over the 

 pools in search of their finny prey, which they appear rarely 

 to drop upon directly from the bank where they have been 

 sitting, as does our own Kingfisher, but hover like a Hawk 

 over the water — and if unsuccessful in their dart, rise appa- 

 rently unconcerned, to go through the evolution again and 

 again until they succeed, when they retire to the bank to 

 enjoy their meal. The next day we ride to the Fossil 

 Forest, a part of the Arabian or Eastern Desert, where the 

 ground is strewn with the shattered remains of fossil trees. 

 The spot is not picturesque, but is curious on account of 

 the quantity of silicified wood which is scattered around, 

 and gives one a fair notion of what a desert is like. We 

 lunch in this wild and desolate spot, where the Gazelle 

 and Raven alone are to be found, the latter watching the 

 stranger patiently, in anticipation of the meal which awaits 

 him from the fragments shortly to be left by the departing 

 visitors. It is curious that in this desert spot, where a 

 few green weeds are the only vegetation, snails should 

 abound, although they are not met with south of this 

 locality in Egypt, not even along the cultivated banks of 



