6 EGYPTIAN BIRDS 
one’s views on so many different points, I do not 
think I would wish to alter one single word in the 
claim made for the value of this aid to Nature 
study. So many birds are such small objects, that 
ten or fifteen paces away they are mere spots, and 
very difficult to recognise, as the detail of their 
plumage at that distance is lost, and all you can 
say is, that it is some small bird, but with a glass 
you can have it brought up to your very eye, you 
can see the arrangement of the masses of the 
feathers, and note even the ever lifting and falling 
of its little crest, as it goes creeping and stealthily 
gliding through the twigs and bushes after its 
insect food. 
Egypt certainly is singularly fortunate in that 
birds here are far tamer than we find them at 
home, and so admit of a closer inspection; but 
even so, I should have been, times without number, 
utterly at a loss to exactly identify certain birds 
if it were not for my trusty glasses. There 
are some occasions where, owing to the extra- 
ordinary tameness of birds, no glasses are needed, 
and I recommend to all bird enthusiasts the 
ground within the areas under the control of the 
Antiquities Department. No guns are allowed 
there, as they are up and down the Nile, and the 
