130 EGYPTIAN BIRDS 
than when they are in big flocks on the salt lakes. 
Those who travel up and down the Nile in the 
only way one should do the river journey, namely, 
by sailing dababeah, should keep a good lookout 
for this beautiful bird; but I fear that those who 
pass by in great steamers have less chance, as I have 
often noticed when my boat has been moored to 
the bank that on the approach of these monsters 
pouring out their black clouds of smoke, every 
bird, great and small, hurries off in disgust if not 
in absolute alarm. The Avocet is not a permanent 
resident in Egypt, but comes from a northern 
home to winter here. It is entirely dependent on 
the water for its food, obtaining therefrom endless 
minute specks of life by means of its bill, moved 
from side to side on the top, or just under the sur- 
face of the muddy pools. When at Lake Menza- 
leh in March and April I saw great flocks of many 
hundreds just near the last sandbank that separates 
the lake from the Mediterranean, and Mr. M. J. 
Nicoll has seen it there in January. They are 
web-footed, a peculiarity that they share with 
the Flamingo, another very long - legged wading 
bird, but whereas the latter is really in form rather 
an ugly, ungainly bird, the Avocet is peculiarly 
elegant and graceful in all its movements. 
