SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



47 



A TAME BLACKBIRD. 



By R. Welch. 



I" SEND you a photograph of a wild female 

 ^ blackbird which has nested under such 

 exceptional circumstances that her picture on the 

 nest may interest your readers. The pair of birds 

 were fa mi liar with the garden at Oakleigh, 

 Belfast, and had been in the habit of entering 

 the little fernery in which they nested on a narrow 

 shelf. This building is only about eight feet long 

 by six feet wide As shown in the photograph, 

 the nest was placed between a flower-pot and a 

 creeping plant. It was most difficult to make a 

 good picture because the operations had to be 

 conducted in such a narrow space, that is to say, 



EARLY MAN IN EGYPT. 



By P. and F. Whiteway. 



"V^EAR by year the soil of Egypt surrenders 

 some of its secrets, but never before have 

 such important discoveries been made relating to 

 the earliest traces of man in the land of the Nile 

 as those of Professor Petrie, whose sojourn in that 

 country during the past few years has been pro- 

 ductive of such splendid results. 



In 1894 Professor Petrie spent eleven weeks at 

 Koptos, now represented by Kuft, about thirty 

 miles north of Thebes. The ancient town of 

 Koptos formed the Nile termination of the world's 

 oldest trading-route. The road which passes 

 through the valley of Hammamat to the shores of 



A 'I AMI lii. Wil'i- 



within three feet of the nest. I had, unfortunately, 

 only a large full-plate camera with me, and this had 

 to be erected and focussed inside the fernery. My 

 proceedings did not seem to trouble the bird at 

 all, for she allowed me to take exposures of twenty 

 seconds, all the while sitting perfectly still. The 

 long exposures were in consequence of the late 

 time of day, as it was afti 'lock in the 



evening. 1 therefore had to take advantage 

 confiding nature to stop down the lens to //if, in 

 order to get such sharpness into the picture as was 

 possible It is common for some birds to nest 

 close to the habitations of man. but we seldom hear 

 of a blackbird's nest in such an exposed position. 



the Red Sea is even to-day frequented by numerous 

 caravans, trading in goods of all descriptions. 

 Tradition had always pointed to Koptos as being 

 one of the first settlements formed by the Egyptian 

 emigrants when they arrived from their ancient 

 home in the sacred land of Punt, in southern 

 Arabia. The site of the temple of Koptos was 

 thoroughly cleared, and no less than six successive 

 temples were found, one buJll over the other, 

 ranging from the most prehistoric age to the period 

 of the Ptolemys 



Hitherto Egyptian ;irt and civilization have 

 presented a striking paradox. The farther back 

 we go the better the art, the more simple and yet 



perfectly develops! ilie social life. Iliyond the 



