A VARIED BAG. 59 



are the guards the stranger employs in Egypt to protect him 

 against the phantom of their own creation, the Arab bandit ; 

 for if he exists anywhere but in their own imagination, he is 

 extremely rare, probably not from any innate notion of right 

 or wrong, but simply from fear of the consequences ; for the 

 natives are rarely above laying their hands upon any thing 

 they can take with safety, but have a great regard for their 

 own skins. Another of their weaknesses is never to tell the 

 truth at first ; so invariable is this rule, that one may safely 

 disbelieve their first statement, and if they adhere to it, 

 abandon all hope of getting at the truth ; but if they after- 

 wards reverse their previous statement, what they have last 

 said may be believed. 



The day being calm, I am able to go where I like in my 

 canoe, and pick up a very varied bag. I get some fine old spe- 

 cimens of the Purple Heron, my previous ones having been in 

 immature plumage. I also meet with a large flock of Bitterns 

 perched up in the thick reeds, which they leave unwillingly, 

 waiting almost for my boat to shake the reeds they are sitting 

 on. There are only six species of Duck plentiful here, the 

 Mallard, Ferruginous Duck, Teal, Pintail, Shoveller, and 

 Gadwall ; of each of them I obtain specimens to-day, which 

 shows what a varied bag one is likely to make out here ; and 

 this to the ornithologist gives additional charms to this wild, 

 rough kind of shooting, where one never knows what the 

 next shot will produce, whether Pelican or Snipe. A breech- 

 loader is consequently most serviceable, as one can change 

 the charge to suit the occasion. A few Eley's wire cartridges 

 with No. 1 shot, which I had with me, proved extreiuely 

 effective with the larger birds and the immense flocks of 



