Wild ^ Tame Hoopoes 29 



long as in the adult bird, and the gape of mouth, 

 with the large yellow edging, is enormous. The only 

 sound at first emitted was a frightened hiss ; but after 

 a few hours, first one and then another began to feed, 

 when they uttered a jarring note, which lasted as long 

 as they stretched up their necks and opened their 

 mouths, with the lovely interior colour of orange-red. 

 They were fed on small pieces of fresh raw meat, 

 mixed with an insectivorous food, brought for the 

 purpose in tins from England. 



Hoopoes nest very early in Egypt, as early as 

 blackbirds do in England. The first nest I came 

 across was at the end of February, when we were 

 voyaging between the first and second cataract of the 

 Nile, at Kalabsheh, famous for the remains of what 

 must have been one of the most magnificent temples 

 of Egypt, but now in ruins from the ravages of some 

 great earthquake, aided by Time. 



Landing at Kalabsheh, and surrounded by the 

 natives of the place, I at once pursued my search for 

 young hoopoes, for I had not yet received the brood 

 just described. It was fast growing dark, and we 

 should be leaving at early dawn on the following 

 morning, so that it was a case of " now or never." On 

 hearing my inquiries in broken Arabic, a good-look- 

 ing young man stepped out of the crowd and said, 

 " Aiwa, henna ! " (" Yes, here ! ") pointing with a grace- 

 ful wave of a brown arm and hand towards some rocks 

 at the back of the village. As usually happened, the 

 whole assembly of some thirty or forty men and boys 

 immediately commenced to gesticulate and shout at 



