30 Wild ^ Tame Hoopoes 



me and each other, until I was forced to put my fingers 

 in my ears and run. 



This seemed to improve matters ; for the original 

 announcer of the whereabouts of a hoopoe's nest came 

 after me, and plucking my sleeve, said, " Taala maaya. 

 Henna ! henna ! " (" Come with me. Here ! here ! ") 

 as he walked ahead through a grove of date-palms, 

 which towered up above us, and through whose grace- 

 ful branches the stars were beginning to gleam with 

 the brilliancy peculiar to an Eastern sky. Then it 

 suddenly struck him that it was already too dark to 

 find the nest without artificial light ; so making me 

 by expressive gestures understand that I was to wait 

 whilst he fetched something, he ran off to the daha- 

 beah, returning in a few minutes with a candle and 

 some matches. Then he led me, followed in the near 

 distance by several boys — to whom I vainly shouted 

 " Emshi ruhh " (" Go away ") — towards the rocks that 

 skirted the mud houses of the village. 



Clambering up to a narrow fissure formed by one 

 huge boulder on another, he lighted the candle and 

 peered in, his black eyes glittering near the flame ; 

 whilst I followed, a boy on either side supporting 

 either arm, under the impression that I couldn't pos- 

 sibly manage the rocky ground without such aid. 



It was evident that my original guide knew what 

 he was about, for he at once turned to me and pointed 

 into the fissure. With much difficulty, and after 

 nearly frizzling off the tip of my nose, I at last dis- 

 cerned, about four feet in — a hoopoe. The fissure was 

 so narrow that even she could not stand upright. 



