530 ORNITHOLOGICAL SKETCHES 



tine I saw a very large flock of Pelicans that came flying 

 across the Dead Sea, and circled for a long time over a great 

 fire that we had made to assist us in boar-hunting. These 

 were the only Pelicans seen in Asia.- 



120. PELECANUS CRISPUS. Dalmatian Pelican. 



Seen singly or in large flocks on Lake Birket-el-Karun, 

 but never observed elsewhere. 



The list of the birds obtained, measured, and therefore 

 thoroughly studied is now complete, and it only remains 

 to devote a few words to the species which were not killed. 

 In enumerating these I will not follow any system, but will 

 give the precedence to those about which I have most to 

 record. 



To commence with the Waterfowl, most of the European 

 geese and ducks had, as I have already said, returned to their 

 homes when my journey in Africa began; and the sporting 

 districts of Egypt are, moreover, completely ruined by a 

 yearly invasion of European, and, more particularly, of English 

 sportsmen. I saw many ducks, even more than I had ex- 

 pected, both on the Nile and the Lakes, but they sought safety 

 in flight while we were still a long way off and before I 

 could distinguish the species to which they belonged. A 

 large Diver, also, that I met with several times at Lake 

 Menzaleh would never let me come near enough. 



I found it utterly impossible to bag a specimen of the 

 beautiful Egyptian Geese, formerly so common, but now so 

 very perceptibly reduced in number. I only saw these 

 handsome birds on the Nile, never on the lakes. The Purple 

 Gallinule, too, seems to have already become very scarce. 



I met with enormous numbers of Flamingoes on Lake 

 Menzaleh, but they very seldom fly into the interior of the 

 country, and we only saw one of them on the Upper Nile. 



