370 The Wilson Bulletin — Xo. 92 



While some living species are fast vanishing- the dead re- 

 main, and the visitor of today may not only look on the life- 

 ■ less forms of once masterful Pharaohs, but also on many of 

 the stupendous monuments they reared. One wonder of 

 Egypt is, that despite the lapse of ages and countless hordes 

 of despoilers so much remains as found and described by 

 Herodotus, Diodorus, and Strabo. So thoroughly have mod- 

 ern explorers and travelers explained and described every- 

 thing that nothing of the unexpected is left for us. Recently 

 Charles Whymper has written most entertainingly of some 

 of the well-known species of birds, and in 1872 Captain G. E. 

 Shelley (a nephew of the poet Shelley) published a compre- 

 hensive handbook of the 351 species of birds that had been 

 identified in Egypt. Since then a few more species have been 

 added to the list. 



Evidences of the veneration paid to animals, and more 

 especially to birds by the ancient Egyptian constantly attract 

 attention. Even in their hieroglyphic signs the forms of birds 

 outnumber those of any other class of animals : there being 

 twenty outlines of birds to twelve of cjuadrupeds, four of rep- 

 tiles, three of fishes, two of insects, and one scorpion. Of the 

 bird outlines a number are of the nondescript sort, while nine 

 of them easily suggest the eagle, heron, ibis, vulture, goose, 

 duck, hawk, owl, and plover families. These on the walls 

 always appear in the same stereotyped forms, and they were 

 probably outlined there bv means of patterns. 



The time spent by me in Egypt, amounting to five weeks 

 altogether, included the whole of February, four days in 

 March, and three days in the previous December. The last 

 named period occurred when I was on my way to India. The 

 routes traversed were the common ones ; which mean the 

 Nile journey from Alexandria to the Second Cataract,, a dis- 

 tance a trifle short of a thousand miles, and the journey by 

 train from Cairo to Port Said, thence by steamer through the 

 Suez Canal down to the Red Sea, and the return trips over 

 the same routes. 



Three mornings were spent at Port Said, once said to be one 



