86 EGYPTIAN BIRDS 
not till the end of February does it look the 
brilliant pink bird described above; then it is 
almost impossible to over-describe its beauties, and 
one is in some danger of over-painting it. Shelley 
says that the young have the bill pale yellowish- 
brown, but I have seen little flocks together, which 
I take were families, in November, and every 
member of the party had brilliant red beaks, 
though otherwise they were all dull sandy colour. 
This bird has a peculiar song or call-note that 
is absurdly like that of a little tin trumpet, and 
this call it continually utters, especially as it flits 
about, so that it can thus often be identified even 
when too distant to be accurately seen. It is really 
a very common bird, but on account of its incon- 
Spicuous winter plumage, is not always noticed. 
In December 1908, in walking across the cultivated 
Thebes valley up to the Tombs of the Kings, I 
must have seen many hundreds in those few miles, 
and when I did not see them I could frequently 
hear them. Most people really do not give them- 
selves much chance of seeing any of the details 
of bird-life, as they go everywhere on donkey 
back, with chattering, ill-behaved boys as retinue, 
and though the birds are tame, they naturally 
fly away at the approach of these noisy cavalcades. 
