Birds by the Wayside 373 



these Gulls.) A few times the Common Heron (Ardea cin- 

 erea) was seen, once an Osprey (Pandion haliaetus), and 

 while still in the Suez Canal a Coot swam by our steamer's 

 side. About the Bitter Lakes were many Cormorants {Phal- 

 acrocorax carbo). Many of these were on the banks, and 

 others were perched on the red frames that supported the 

 beacon lights marking the course for the vessels. Every frame 

 seemed to have its contingent ; some having no more than four 

 to seven birds, while others had from thirty to forty of them. 

 A month later similar frames in the harbors of Alexandria 

 presented like decorations. The largest number of Cormo- 

 rants counted on one frame was seventy-six. On the Nile this 

 species was seen more frequently than the books led me to 

 expect. They were noted on eight days. The largest flock, 

 numbering fifty-eight, was on a sand-bar near Gebel Abu Fe- 

 dah. This mountain is said to be one of their breeding places. 

 The nearly vertical faces of its cliffs stretch along the river's 

 edge for several miles. The species was seen at both the 

 First and the Second Cataracts. About the latter, on the six- 

 mile trip by felucca from Wadi Haifa to the Rock of Abusir, 

 a single Cormorant was seen in several places. 



For one desirous of seeing birds the window of a moving- 

 train is usually a poor place, which proved true in the jour- 

 neys between Alexandria and Cairo; also on those between 

 Cairo and Port Said, and the short ones between Aswan and 

 Shellal. An exception to the rule was the ride of February 

 37 from Assiut to Cairo. For long distances the railway 

 track ran quite near an irrigation canal, whose proximity 

 probably accounted for the larg^e number of small birds that 

 so often took flight. Some of the Little Green Bee-eaters. 

 (Merops viridis) frequently could be recognized among the 

 birds a-wing, while others retained their positions on the 

 telegraph wires as the train passed. In all several hundred 

 of these were seen. This was my last meeting with the spe- 

 cies, a few of which were met with in Egypt on five other 

 days, making in all the same number of days for it there,, 

 that it was seen in India. 



