EETUEN TO CAIEO. 61 



before, and many sand-banks have appeared, which form 

 favourable resorts for the Godwits and Ruffs ; numbers of 

 Spotted Eagles and Ospreys sit lazily upon the sand, or upon 

 the matted bushes and reeds. I recognize three specimens of 

 Tartar Sharpei by then* more sandy colouring than T. sene- 

 galends, the ordinary Egyptian Dove, and by their more 

 active flight ; whUe pursuing them, I get a varied bag of 

 Waders, inckiding half a dozen Snipe. Throughout the 

 Fayoom snakes abound : but one island Uterally swarmed 

 with them; for in merely walking round it, though only 100 

 yards in length, I killed three, one about 7 feet long ; and 

 whUe washing my hands I almost touched a vUlainous-looking 

 little rascal, which I stoned to death. I believe, however, in 

 general they are not very poisonous. 



March \2>th. — Having now collected most of the birds which 

 I expected to find in the Fayoom, I decide to return to Cairo, 

 as I propose spending a month in the Delta before leaving 

 for England ; so I rise early, and get all my baggage up to 

 Shebooksi, the sugar-factory, by 10 a.m., to be ready for the 

 train to Medineh, whenever it may start ; for no one knows 

 even the probable hour of its departm-e, as it has to come 

 from Medineh, picking up sugar-cane by the way. It arrives 

 at about 1 o'clock, and, after several hour's work shunt- 

 ing carriages, it starts with us at 4 p.m. On reaching the 

 first station, it is found that about a dozen carriages are re- 

 quired there to be filled with sugar-cane, so the train returns 

 to the factory to fetch them. At length, after having done 

 its work in true Egyptian fashion, we arrive at Medineh about 

 6 P.M., where we pitch our camp for the night. Next 

 morning we go on by train to leadwa, some five miles distant. 



