EGYPTIAN BIRDS 13 
it might come to pass that some future engineer 
would turn his attention to this great area of waste 
water, and turn it into profitable cultivated ground, 
and then the birds would be driven away here as 
completely as they were in England when our fens 
and meres were drained to make good corn land. 
Therefore, this proposal to let in more Nile water is 
of much importance to Menzaleh remaining the 
great stronghold of bird life in Egypt. At present 
the spectacle it presents of its crowds of birds seen 
under the almost constant blue sky, is one that 
all would be very sorry to lose. The Flamingo 
come as its crowning glory, but the list of birds is 
long, and Mr. M. J. Nicoll tells how in only one 
week’s stay, at Gheit-el-Nassara, on the north-west 
side of the lake, he met with no less than eighty- 
seven species. The ordinary visitor to Egypt 
hurries away from Alexandria or Port Said, but 
any who love Nature ought to leave a few days for 
places other than the Nile, if they are to obtain 
anything at all like a complete knowledge of 
Egyptian Birds. 
