192 ALOPOCHEN MGYPTIACUS 



the traveler may still see a few pairs resting during the heat of the day, on the ex- 

 posed sand-banks of the Nile when it is low. I noted them first in the vicinity of 

 the Temple of Abu-Simbel, in 1908. A grazing bird, the species is not dependent on 

 large bodies of water, and being extremely adaptable, it is able not only to support 

 itself, but to rear its young in almost any locality. But it prefers the wide sandy 

 banks of river-islands, and is not so commonly found in reedy districts. In the rainy 

 season it, like other water-fowl, disperses over wide areas and is to be found espe- 

 cially in districts recently flooded. According to Brehm even the few puddles that 

 remain after the rains will suffice for its needs. Holub and von Pelzeln (1882) state 

 that in South Africa it is to be found also on salt lakes, in the great bushy treeless 

 regions, in fact everywhere except areas overgrown with a thick tropical vegetation. 



Wariness. My own experience with these birds on the Blue Nile was that, though 

 not particularly shy, they were sufficiently intelligent to spend the day in open 

 places, where it was not easy to approach near enough to kill them with a shot-gun. 

 Shelley (1872) considered the birds very wary in Egypt, and says that sometimes 

 they would walk away from the river-bank to avoid an approaching boat. On the 

 White Nile also they appear to be shy, though the natives are said to have difficulty 

 in driving them away from their bean-crops (Witherby, 1901). In South Africa 

 these birds are universally regarded as shy, and very difficult to shoot, excepting 

 when they are shedding their feathers. Only in some of the less-settled regions, such 

 as Abyssinia and Tanganyika Province (German East Africa), do they seem to be 

 less timid (G. A. Fischer, 1879; Bohm, 1882; von Heuglin, 1873; Zedlitz, 1910; 

 Schillings, 1905; von Erlanger, 1905). 



Daily Movements. The Egyptian Geese rest throughout the hot part of the 

 day, but are on the wing in the early morning and late afternoon. They may be 

 described as principally crepuscular, and as sometimes nocturnal, being especially 

 restless on moonlit nights (Bbhm, 1882). 



Flight. Nile Geese usually go about in pairs, and the male when flying is more 

 frequently behind the female. Their flight is said to resemble that of Sheldrakes and 

 ducks, rather than that of geese (von Heuglin, 1873; Blanford, 1870). According to 

 Naumann (1896-1905) the flight is quite characteristic and peculiar, resembling 

 that of neither geese nor ducks. When rising they fly rather clumsily at first, but 

 having once gotten under way their flight is rapid and is accompanied by a loud 

 rustling noise. They usually fly rather low, sometimes only one-half to one and one- 

 half meters over the water, but at other times twenty to thirty meters high (Holub 

 and von Pelzeln, 1882). Although keeping in pairs throughout most of the year the 



