144



Miss Rosie Aederson,



to above, page 395, records having once seen a pair of Spur¬

winged Plovers, Hoplopterus spinosus, “ pecking something from

a basking crocodile’s head.”


O11 whether the subject of this article was known to the

ancient Egyptians I am not qualified to write, I do not remember

having so far seen it represented in their paintings. As the

opinion of the late Dr. Anderson on this point is recorded in his

volume on Reptiles it may have escaped the notice of many

ornithologists, so may well be quoted here.


“Brelim, Heuglin, Dresser, and others have said that

Pluvianus cegyptius is U in the hieroglyphic alphabet of the

Egyptians, and it is even stated that the Egyptians of old were

well acquainted with it, and that it frequently occurs on wall-

paintings. I have gone carefully through the literature bearing

on the wall-paintings of Egypt, but I have not been able to find a

single representation’ of Plwviamis (Zgyptius. The TJ of the

alphabet is unquestionably a newly-fledged domestic chicken, a

most important bird with the Egyptians, who, as now, largely if

not exclusively brought all their poultry to .life by artificial incu¬

bation. The wings devoid of quills, the absence of tail-feathers,

and the generally imperfect character of the feathering of the

bird of the hieroglyph U are all distinctive of a bird that has

left the egg. By some Egyptologists I believe the figure has

been taken for a quail.”



NOTES ON MY BIRDS.


By Rosie Alderson.


(i Contimied from page 130).


The other inmates of this aviary are a pair of Bronze¬

necked Doves and what I hope are a pair of rare Black-bearded

Doves; there is also a tiny “ Francisian ” Dove from South

America, a pretty little thing about the size of a Passerine.


The Bronze-necked cock was sent to me with a hen from

Australia. They were most unsuitably packed. The two

Bronze-necked, a large Black and White Fruit Pigeon and a

Blue-bonnet Parrakeet all being sent together in one small box-

cage, only about 17 inches square.



