100 EGYPTIAN BIRDS 
fly if they can possibly get out of your way by 
running. I very well remember seeing them on 
the old-time road from Kennah to Kosseir on the 
Red Sea. I saw them first before reaching Wady 
Hammamat, and then more frequently as we passed 
through the ancient quarries. They seem to use 
this old roadway as their regular feeding-ground, 
for there, owing to the passage of caravans back- 
wards and forwards, they find a perpetual source 
of food from the frequent droppings. Their move- 
ments were so quick and their little bodies so 
round and plump that, even with my glass on 
them, I could not settle the colour of their legs, 
till I got a closer inspection of those in the Cairo 
Zoological Gardens. As they run they utter a 
little cheery sort of “cheep, cheep” call, and the 
whole party seem always happy, if not in boisterous 
spirits, which, when one considers the hardness of 
their life in these sterile wastes, seems somewhat 
remarkable. Grain and seeds are their staple food, 
but I distinctly saw one once and again make a 
dart at some passing insect, and no doubt here, as 
at home, they love the ants’ eggs that must exist, 
as ants are ever present with you in this hot desert 
country. As far as my own notes go, I do not 
think they ever come down even to the outskirts 
