Birds by the Wayside 387 



(lotus ; or flies among which was the dangerous tsetse fly. 

 Another point controverted is whether the Plover ally be- 

 longs to the Black-headed or the Spur-winged species, fev/ 

 people seeming to realize that this habit may be common to 

 both species, as Mr. John Lea has suggested in " Romances 

 of Bird Life." Since the crocodile still survives in the up- 

 per reaches of the Nile there is ofit'ered brilliant opportunities 

 for the ambitious young man with the camera, who shall 

 secure for us moving pictures of the Plovers at work clean- 

 ing the saurian's teeth. This is especially desirable because 

 of the skepticism still prevailing in spite of John Lea's array 

 of evidences. Beginning with the account given by Hero- 

 dotus he quotes the testimony of several travelers in the more 

 recent centuries and concludes with an account by Mr. John 

 M. Cook, that was published in the Ibis. He with another 

 man, aided by field glasses, watched a Spur-winged Plover 

 enter the mouth of a crocodile, but the distance was too great 

 for them to discern what the bird did. Thus the field for 

 investigation remains wide-open for the man with a camera. 

 Ziczac is the name by which the crocodile's friend is known 

 to the Arabs. On our Nile journey we traveled on four 

 steamers, so came under the guidance of nine different dra- 

 gomans, only one of whom .pointed out to us the Ziczac, 

 carved on the temple walls, and repeated the story that is 

 familiar to the natives. As given by him there was an ad- 

 mixture of the phenix fable with the well known narrative. 

 All of the party that went by the small boat to the Rock 

 of Abusir were agreed that it was one of the most delightful 

 excursions of the Nile trip. In addition to other pleasures 

 it furnished several views of the. Egyptian Goose (Chenal- 

 opex ccgyptiacus), and some of these birds were near enough 

 for us to enjoy their handsomely colored plumage. There is 

 in Egypt a certain picture that I meant by all means to see. 

 It is believed to be the oldest painting in the world and de- 

 picts six geese feeding. I had different guides on my two 

 visits to the Egyptian Museum at Cairo and neither of them 

 knew of this picture. Reproductions of it had made me fa- 



