176 



EGYPTIAN BIRDS 



linked with sadness, as the subject of the picture 

 being entirely of bird-lite, one would have thought 

 that bird -life would be a subject of continued 

 interest ; but the reverse is very much the case, so 

 much so, that though this very picture is known 

 to thousands who have never been to Egypt, and 

 many thousands more who have been to Egypt 

 and gone to see this very picture, and bought 

 photographs or copies of it, few or any have 

 really interest enough in it even to learn or inquire 

 what are the names of the geese depicted. In the 

 very rough little sketch on p. 175 the two geese at 

 the extreme right and left are Bean Geese, birds 

 that one might expect the old-time artist to be 

 familiar with, and the same is true of the two geese 

 in the left-hand group, which are White-fronted 

 Geese, as both are winter migrants to Egypt, 

 remaining till March. Of the two remaining birds, 

 from their markings the naturalist will have no 

 doubt but that they are Red-breasted Geese ; and 

 there is a mystery, as they never come to Egypt, and 

 being a northern bird, one is utterly at a loss to ex- 

 plain why the artist of that long-distant date should 

 depict that special Goose. That he did see the bird, 

 and with fidelity drew it, are facts, and one can only 

 conclude that zoological collections are no new thing, 



