106 EGYPTIAN BIRDS 
seems to be roughly the great valley of the Nile 
right to its entrances to the Mediterranean; but 
on the return journey from Europe they seem to 
reach the shores of Egypt, then turn eastwards 
and follow the line of the Suez Canal and Red 
Sea to about Kosseir and the old river-bed, then 
across the desert to the Nile, and away spread- 
ing themselves over the heart of Africa.” 
“On their arrival in Egypt they are so dog- 
tired that they can sometimes be caught by hand, 
and have been actually so caught in houses that 
they have entered in a sort of dazed condition. 
The poor Quail are also caught in large numbers 
by a drop-net whilst on passage down the river, 
in clover, or any other suitable crop, the fowler call- 
ing them up to his net by a reed whistle. Quail 
shooting used to be a more favourite sport than 
it is now since Denshawie days, and two guns 
have on one occasion obtained 252 birds in the 
day at Ayat, fifty miles south of Cairo.” 
After this one is not disposed to say “liar” 
even to the ancient historian who recorded the sink- 
ing of certain vessels in the ocean, because of the 
innumerable Quail that settled on them; and one 
readily accepts the story of the Israelites’ camp 
being covered all over two cubits high by falling 
