FAUNA. 389 



year, flying in spring north to Europe to enjoy the freshness of the temperate 

 climates, returning in autumn to reoccupy their nests, which stretch along the 

 banks of the Nile as far south as the foot of the Abyssinian highlands. Of 

 stationary birds in Egypt there are numerous species, several of which are 

 distinguished for their rare beauty. The white eagle soars into the higher aerial 

 regions ; while the nectarine with its metallic sheen, lovely as the humming-bird of 

 the New World, flits and darts amid the garden flowers. 



The charadrius ^gyjdiacas, supposed by the ancients to be the faithful companion 

 of the crocodile, still enlivens the banks of the Egyptian Nile, from which the 

 great saurian has long retreated to the Nubian waters. With him also the ibis 

 has departed for the southern solitudes ; but pigeons still flutter in dense clouds 

 above the cultivated plains. In fact this bird forms everywhere a characteristic 

 feature of the landscape in the inhabited parts of the country. *' Every village has 

 its pigeon-houses, looking like great mud cones, and in the evening the owners go 

 out and call them in. An amusing instance of the usual Egyptian dishonesty was 

 told me the other day. When a man wants to get hold of extra pigeons, he goes 

 out of an evening ; but instead of calling them he frightens the pigeons away. 

 They do not understand this ; keep circling above, and swoop down now and then 

 towards their houses. Other pigeons, seeing this commotion, join them, and as soon 

 as the man sees there are enough, he hides. The whole of the birds, old and new, 

 then go into the house, and the man returning, shuts them in. This would be a 

 fine business if it were not that all of them do the same thing, and therefore each 

 gets caught in his turn. They know this perfectly well, but no Egyptian fellah 

 could resist the temptation of cheating his neighbour."* 



The waters of the lakes and lagoons, throughout the delta region, are also 

 frequented by myriads of aquatic fowl. Amongst the commonest species here met 

 are the flamingo, pelican, heron, crane, and duck. Some of these birds are captured 

 by the hand. Concealing his head in an empty gourd, which seems to float casually 

 on the surface, the fellah swims stealthily towards the bird keeping guard, and 

 seizing it suddenly by the feet from below, draws it under before it has time to 

 give the alarm. Then the flock being more easily surprised, may be taken in large 

 numbers. 



Like the aquatic birds on the sedgy banks, fish teem in multitudes in the waters 

 of Menzaleh and the other lakes of the lower delta. The annual opening of tbe 

 fishing season is celebrated by a feast, which coincides with the arrival of the 

 mullets from the Mediterranean in the Gemileh lagoon. All the channels leading 

 into the interior of the basin are closed by a long line of nets ; then at a given 

 moment the fishermen get their boats ready, armed with hooks and harpoons, while 

 on the neighbouring beach the feast is prepared by the women. Presently the sea 

 begins to glitter ; the shoal of fish, pursued by the porpoises and other voracious 

 animals, crowd about the entrance, causing the water to sparkle with a thousand 

 prismatic tints. A suppressed murmur, as of many voices, caused by the rush of 

 the living masses and splash of the troubled waters, gradually increases, and 

 * E. Sartorins, " Three Months in the Sudan," p. 32. 



