62 DUCKS. 



and stop there for two days' shooting round some pieces of 

 water : one, a small lake surrounded by rushes, abounds with 

 Snipe ; but the Ducks are impossible to be got at, as the 

 banks are flat, and there is no covert to hide a person ; while 

 at the other lake, or rather reservoir, for it is walled half 

 way round, there is a capital embankment, admirably siuted 

 for concealment, with water on both sides ; and there fair sport 

 may be had at flight-time, or by driving the bii-ds over by 

 a boat on the lake. Being alone, I have to content myself 

 by getting Dango to drive the Ducks ofi" the smaUer piece of 

 water, and then pursuing them on the large reservoir, in my 

 canoe, — not very satisfactory work, as a strong wind makes the 

 lake very rough, and on the open water it is impossible to 

 approach the large flocks of Ducks and Geese that one sees. 

 I only get ten Ducks in the day ; but probably a party of 

 four or five guns would have got a much larger proportion, 

 as they could have worked properly. Earlier in the season 

 I expect these lakes, and another which I did not visit, 

 woidd prove better for sport than the large lake of Bhket el 

 Korn. 



March \^th. — Leave leadwa by train at 10 a.m., and arrive 

 at the junction Zowyeh at 11.30 ; hearing that I shall have to 

 wait a couple of hours, I go after Quail, and have some very 

 fair sport close to the station. I return needlessly early ; for 

 my train does not arrive till 4 p.m., so that I only get to 

 Imbaba station at Cairo at 6.30. 



Among the birds which the ornithologist should not neglect 

 to get from the Fayoom are : — Herodias alba, Ardea purpurea, 

 Phalacrocorax pypncBus, PorjjJip'io hi/acinthiiia, Podicepn 

 cristatus, and Np-uca Icuwpldhalma, all most abundant on the 



