WILD-FOWL. 53 



I was decidedly late in visiting the Fayoom for sport. 

 I believe the best season would be from October to the end 

 of January ; for iu February the Snipe and Duck are leaving, 

 while the Quail have not yet arrived ; so that I was satisfied 

 to get an average of ten head of waterfowl, chiefly Teal, in a 

 day, with occasionally a fair bag of Snipe. The latter were 

 uncertain, as I only found a few good places for them ; but 

 I met with a liberal supply of odd birds, such as Pelicans, 

 Cormorants, Herons, Spoonbills, &c., and some rather good 

 hare-shooting among the bushes in the more desert parts. 

 My chief object being to collect the different birds of Egypt, 

 I was not disappointed, as I got many species which I had 

 never met with in other parts of the country. 



Any one visiting this lake for sport should not fail to bring 

 with him a small shallow boat, and be prepared for a certain 

 amount of cold, as even up to the end of February the nights 

 are unpleasantly chilly. The banks are mostly open and 

 bare, even on the cultivated side, while on the opposite side 

 the desert comes down to the water's edge : so that all the 

 duck-shooting is to be obtained by rowing among the thick, 

 but generally narrow, strips of reeds, which extend for some 

 distance out into the lake. The water among these reeds is 

 often from eight to ten feet deep ; and as they rise high above 

 the surface, it shows to what a size the reeds grow out here. 

 On the desert side I have had some good Cormorant-shooting, 

 killing twenty one evening in about two hours, on their flight 

 across a narrow strip of land. The most abundant Duck on 

 the lake is Nyroca leucopldhahna, the Ferruginous Duck, which 

 may be seen in immense numbers far out on the open water ; 

 but it was some time before I could obtain a specimen, as they 

 are extremely watchful, except when they happen to come 



