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various positions among the thick bushes, which formed capital 

 cover, and all was soon perfectly quiet. 



The flight now began. Cormorants, Shovellers, some 

 Herons, a good many Marsh-Harriers, and various kinds of 

 shore-birds flew past, but most of them were a long way off*. 

 A few were killed, but on the whole the shooting was not 

 successful. Flamingoes singly and in knots of as many as 

 ten also flew up and down out of shot, but no large flocks 

 were seen until after sunset. This bird has a most ridiculous 

 appearance when flying, for its long neck and legs, which are 

 carried quite horizontally, look like a long stick with two 

 wings hung on to it. 



In the evening the wind increased and the waves beat 

 heavily upon the shore of the island, but the clouds broke a 

 little, and we enjoyed the spectacle of a lovely sunset, the 

 purple-red of the western sky mirroring itself in the lake as 

 the sun sank slowly into the agitated waters. 



As soon as it began to get quite dark we set out to return 

 to our vessel, having first to tramp through the thick knee- 

 deep bushes of this long island before reaching our boat at its 

 western extremity, and then, after a short row, we got to the 

 small island, where our dahabeeyah lay fast moored close to 

 the shore. All the gentlemen had arrived, and each had 

 brought back something, but nobody much, nor had any one 

 killed a Flamingo, although a good many long shots had been 

 fired at these incredibly shy birds. 



The evening was so chilly that when dining on board our 

 dahabeeyah we had to sit wrapped in our cloaks. Some 

 lanterns lit up the curious and impressive scene produced by 

 the little flotilla as it lay in the dark night close to a barren 

 island of this desolate lake, far away from all human habita- 

 tions, while the perfect silence that reigned around was only 

 broken by the lapping of the waves and the hoarse voices of 

 the Arabs. 



