308 TRAVELS IN UPPER 



this remarkable conformation is not to be found 

 on the foot of the cuckow. 



One of the most common birds in Lower Egypt, 

 principally at the commencement of winter, is 

 the lapwing*. To those which do not quit the 

 country, flocks of birds of passage add them- 

 selves, which, from northern regions, come to 

 seek, together with a warmer climate, a more 

 plentiful supply of nourishment, and this they 

 find in the great number of insects which the Nile, 

 on withdrawing itself, leaves exposed. These are 

 very fat, and their flesh is tender and well-tasted : 

 on the contrary, the sedentary lapwing is reckon- 

 ed very bad eating -f~. The inhabitants do not 

 kill them: they are not at all wild; there is a 

 considerable number of them in the tumultuous 

 city of Cairo, where they build their nests in per- 

 fect security on the roofs of the houses. 



I have frequently seen, in Egypt, lapwings col- 

 lected in small bodies. When one of them is se- 

 parated from the rest, she calls her companions by 

 a shrill cry, repeated twice, zi, zi. When they 



* Hist. Nat. des Ois. et pi. enlum. No. 52. — Upvpa tpops. 

 Lin. 



\ Lapwings are eaten in several parts of Italy. I have seen 

 them generally ornamenting the hooks of the cook-shops of 

 Genoa. 



are 



