484 Letters, Exti-acts, Notices, ^c. 



So far as I can learn, the migrants down the Nile diverge 

 eastward on arriving at the Delta, and in the upper valley of 

 the Euphrates I have noticed vast flocks arriving from the 

 southward. 



Yours, &c., 



Jerusalem, March 31st, 1897. H. B. Tristram. 



[Most of our readers will be aware that at the date of the 

 despatch of this letter our much-valued friend and corre- 

 spondent had recently met with a sad accident, his leg having 

 been broken by the kick of a mule. We are much pleased 

 to be able to announce, however, that Canon Tristram has 

 made a good recovery and is now at home again. — Edd.] 



Sirs, — It is with some surprise that, on referring to 

 Professor Newton's 'Dictionary of Birds' (Introduction, 

 p. 2), I find that there still seems to be need of a report by 

 an ornithologist with regard to the species of two of the 

 Geese in the celebrated fresco found in a tomb at Maydoom. 

 I therefore send you the following brief remarks. 



For the benefit of those who may have forgotten the 

 history of the picture, I quote the following from the Cata- 

 logue of the Museum at Ghizeli, Cairo, where the picture is 

 numbered 3 in the collection : — 



" 3. Prise et stuc. Haut. 0'",29, long. r",74. Cat. Mar. 

 p. 205. — Me'idoum. 



" Oies paissant, tres jolie fresque pleine de vie et de gaiete. 

 Cette scene et le hieroglyphe peint qu'on voit plus haut 

 proviennent d'un tombeau de Meidoum que Mariette jugeait 

 anterieur a I'epoque des grandes pyramides.'' 



Mariette assigns to the IVth dynasty, by whom these 

 pyramids were built, the dates of 4235 to 3951 b.c, so 

 that, according to him, the picture of the Geese must be at 

 least older than that date. Other Egyptologists differ from 

 Mariette, and assign to the IVth dynasty a period either 

 about 1000 years before or after that given by him ; but, in 

 any case, the picture must date at least from a period of 

 some 3000 years before the Christian era. 



