180 EGYPTIAN BIRDS 
they always have sentinels well posted up and 
down the reach of water, and a warning quack 
and all heads are up on a flash; and if the quack 
has had a certain intonation they are all up and 
away at once. Then it is, if you are shooting, 
that you may, if you keep quiet, get a shot as 
they return sweeping down and round the water, 
which they will not completely leave unless very 
frightened. I have looked on to pools of this sort 
which have been absolutely black with birds, and 
amongst the whole, nine-tenths would be Pin- 
tail. Later it might be, at that same pool, all 
would be Shovellers or Pochard. The Pintail is 
what is known as a surface-feeding duck, and is 
placed near the common Wild Duck, the Mallard of 
English waters. It is distinctly peculiar in form; 
the neck is long, and when alarmed the head is 
held high, and the whole neck looks very thin. 
These characters, as well as the long pintail, are 
well shown at Deir-el-Bahari and other temples, 
where the wall-painting is of a really good period, 
and from the frequency of its pictures one can 
only suppose that it was as common all those 
years ago as it is to-day. The Zoological Gardens 
at Cairo are visited nearly every winter by a few 
Pintails. They feed on grass and water-weeds, and 
