Birds by the Wayside 37? 



four. Once both species were together, there being two 

 birds of the former species and twenty-one of the latter. 

 They were sunning themselves on a sand-bar, their enormous 

 wings spread out in characteristic fashion. 



On the Egyptian Nile the Common Heron (Ardea cin- 

 erea) was seen on fourteen days, the maximum for one day 

 being one hundred and six individuals, forty-two of which 

 were on one sand-bar. They were usually some distance 

 from our boat, and passengers seeking information from a 

 dragoman were told that they were Storks. This not from 

 a desire to mislead, but because he like others (who should 

 know better) was mistaken in the identity. We were too 

 early for the migration of the Storks, which is said to oc- 

 cur in March and April. I saw the White Stork (Ciconia 

 alba) but once; they were in a flock of less than a score. 



The Night Heron {Nycticorax griseiis) was seen by me 

 in the Cairo Zoological Gardens, where seventeen of the 

 species were counted in one tree. While looking at them 

 and wishing for some one who could give trustworthy infor- 

 mation, a party arrived that was conducted by two officials 

 of the Gardens, and it was my good fortune to learn from 

 one of them, the distinguished ornithologist, Mr. M. J. Nicoll, 

 that the estimate for the Night Heron then frequenting the 

 Gardens was upward of a hundred, and the 'estimate for the 

 wild Ducks was more than a thousand. Among the latter 

 were many Shovellers and a smaller number of Teal. From 

 the Nile boats Ducks in small numbers were seen in the dis- 

 tance on fourteen days. Other species seen at liberty and 

 in abundance in the Cairo Zoological Gardens were Parrots 

 and Egyptian Turtledoves. 



The only representative of the Alcedinidae seen in Africa 

 was the Black and White Kingfisher (Ceryle riidis), called 

 the Pied Kingfisher by some authors. A half dozen of the 

 species were the most that were seen on a single day, but 

 they appeared on half the days spent on the Egyptian Nile, 

 and were not seen in Nubia. At times the steamers ran quite 

 near the high banks, and on one occasion two of these King- 



