EGYPTIAN BIRDS 9 
representative list of anything—whether it be birds, 
books, or pretty women. It must also be remem- 
bered that Egypt proper—the area alone treated 
upon in these pages—begins at Alexandria and 
ends at Assoan, a stretch of country of about 525 
miles, whilst the breadth may be anything from 
fifty miles to less than one. From that area our 
selection has had to be mainly confined, and it 
has meant excluding a certain number of very 
beautiful and interesting forms. 
Bird lovers should remember that when the, 
at first, seemingly rather extortionate demand 
of 120 piastres is made, before they are given 
the card which admits them to the temples, 
tombs, and areas under the control of the 
Antiquities Department, they are, in a very 
important way, really helping on the preservation 
of birds, for, as already has been said, on no 
ground under the control of the Department are 
birds allowed to be shot, and as these spots are 
the very ones in all Egypt most visited, it is very 
necessary, aS amongst the thousands of tourists 
that are made familiar with the fact that wild 
duck, snipe, and waders were very tame at these 
places, there would always be some unsportsman- 
like guns, who would seize the opportunity of 
2 
