176 EGYPTIAN BIRDS 
linked with sadness, as the subject of the picture 
being entirely of bird-life, one would have thought 
that bird-life would be a subject of continued 
interest ; but the reverse is very much the case, so 
much so, that though this very picture is known 
to thousands who have never been to Egypt, and 
many thousands more who have been to Egypt 
and gone to see this very picture, and bought 
photographs or copies of it, few or any have 
really interest enough in it even to learn or inquire 
what are the names of the geese depicted. In the 
very rough little sketch on p. 175 the two geese at 
the extreme right and left are Bean Geese, birds 
that one might expect the old-time artist to be 
familiar with, and the same is true of the two geese 
in the left-hand group, which are White-fronted 
Geese, as both are winter migrants to Egypt, 
remaining till March. Of the two remaining birds, 
from their markings the naturalist will have no 
doubt but that they are Red-breasted Geese; and 
there is a mystery, as they never come to Egypt, and 
being a northern bird, one is utterly at a loss to ex- 
plain why the artist of that long-distant date should 
depict that special Goose. That he did see the bird, 
and with fidelity drew it, are facts, and one can only 
conclude that zoological collections are no new thing, 
