SIX MONTHS’ 
BIRD COLLECTING IN EGYPT. 
CHAPTER I. 
ON the 7th of January, 1875, at the first streak of break- 
ing day, the shores of the great land of the Pharaohs and 
the Pyramids became dimly visible to a small knot of 
expectant gazers standing on the after-deck of the good 
S.S. Hindostan, one of the finest boats, after the Australia, 
belonging to the P. and O. Steam and Navigation Co. 
The Herring Gulls of the Mediterranean in their unsullied 
purity had been our constant companions. For four whole 
daysa flock of them had followed in our wake, nor do I 
suppose it was because they were hard up. Theirs was no 
slender chance of daily bread, for in fact a great deal of 
broken victuals were constantly being thrown overboard ; 
besides, with what unctuous rapture the grease from the 
engines of a steamer is gobbled up by your hungry Gull! 
I had never been in Egypt, and as the day broke I could 
not enough admire the panorama stretched out before me. 
To the right lay the suburb of Ramleh, and the Viceroy’s 
Summer Palace. To the left the lighthouse and a frowning 
fort, which seemed to keep the peace between the “old 
