SIX MONTHS’ BIRD COLLECTING IN EGYPT. 193 
there will probably be some which have not got up. As they 
fly a very short distance and go very slowly, it follows that 
when a colony of ten or twelve are found they are generally 
nearly all killed. The only thing which saves them is the 
propinquity of their reedy haunts to the villages, and the 
native population who come out to witness the “battue,” 
and are very much in the way. One colony was established 
in the village cesspool—a small tussocky place, less than a 
quarter of a acre—within forty yards of the houses. The 
rushes chiefly frequented by this species seemed to be the 
common flowering sort, with a triangular stem. Painted 
Snipes should not be sought for in the Snipe-marsh, or the 
inundated rice fields: they prefer small reedy ponds, with 
tussocks such as I describe. Sometimes we found these 
places inland, but in general they were only separated from 
the river by the tow-path. Here they run about almost 
like rats, and might often be shot before they get up. One 
took refuge in a brick-kiln, and two, strange to relate, were 
seen to perch on houses! When only winged, I have seen 
one hiss with fright at the person who picked it up. Their 
edible qualities are not remarkable. After leaving the 
Delta we supposed that we had done with them, but a 
single specimen—the first solitary one we had seen—was 
shot at Benisouef. We flushed it from a piece of ground 
where two of us had been looking twenty minutes for a dead 
Sandgrouse ; so reluctant are they to rise. At the Faioum 
we saw some beautiful specimens, and shot one which had 
an egg inside it. They were mostly in moist spots among 
the tamarisks, but I saw one squat down in the canal at the 
edge. It was done to escape detection, and really it looked 
exactly like a lump of mud in the water. 
I do not know whether it has been observed that in June 
the neck is bulged out in a curious way, and the skin of 
that part very much stretched. 
At Alexandria I saw two unblown eggs with the old 
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