AND L0AVER EGYPT. 309 



are perched, their note, which it gave me plea- 

 sure to listen to with attention, ma}' be very well 

 expressed by the syllable poun, which they pro- 

 nounce with a strong and grave voice, generally 

 three times successively; at each time they bring 

 back their long beak on their breast, and raise up 

 their head in a lively manner. Sometimes, also, 

 they utter a hoarse and disagreeable sound, and this 

 only once. In a state of rest, their crest and beak, 

 turned backward, are on thesamchorizontal plane. 



There is, as well as in the lapwings, a great dif- 

 ference in the quality of the flesh, between the 

 turtle-doves of passage, and those which do not 

 quit Egypt. The first furnish very good eating, 

 whereas the others are a mere dry and tasteless 

 viand. The turtle-doves which arrive in Egypt in 

 the autumn, and which extend themselves from 

 the sea up to Cairo, are of the common species *, 

 and those which inhabit the country, form a very 

 distinct race. The upper part of the head, and of 

 the neck, is of a light lint gray; the back, and 

 the superior coverings of the wings, of the same 

 colour, but the red tint is more vivid. Upon the 

 upper part of the neck is a half-collar, black and 

 narrow; the threat and the inferior coverings of 

 the tail are white; the under part of the neck is 



* Tourterelle commun. BufPon, Hist. Nat. des Ois. et pi. 

 tnlum. No. 394. — Columbaturtur. Lin. 



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