204 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. vn. 



changes of condition of which the various marine 

 and fresh-water strata of the Pliocene and Post- 

 Pliocene periods in Britain and Europe are results. 

 In that part of the Lybian Desert remarkable for 

 the quantity of silicified wood and tree trunks 

 superficially distributed, there is evidence of vol- 

 canic action, probably submarine. But in the 

 main the origin of the dry land resulting in 

 fertile Egypt seems to be due to slow elevation 

 and annual alluviums, which for long ages were 

 spread out beneath estuary seas, but finally adding 

 to and superficially forming upraised dry land. 



1 Of fertile and habitable land Egypt is the most 

 recent or last formed, and it is that which yields 

 the most ancient evidences of social and civilised 

 man. Of these marvellous evidences — marvellous 

 for their magnitude, number, and variety — I shall 

 only say that they transcend all previous concep- 

 tion. With regard to the Egyptian fauna, how 

 interesting was it to the naturalists to witness, as 

 they steamed along, so many kinds of birds, 

 previously studied as stuffed specimens in our 

 cabinets or as captives in our Zoological Gardens ! 

 to witness and compare the flight of flocks of 

 flamingoes, spoonbills, pelicans, the varied forms 

 of waders, the graceful undulatory course of the 

 crested hoopoes, the darting of the kingfishers, 

 the manoeuvres of the birds of prey, from the 

 vultures and eagles to the kites and sparrowhawks ! 

 Of the rarest of all these Egyptian birds, I had 



