Captain John S. Reeve—Some Birds in Egypt and Palestine 127


Egrets among these birds, and I feel convinced the vast majority were

Buff-backed, but at this time of year I could see no buff, even on the

head, they appeared quite white.


The only three or four Little Egrets I saw were in a canal between

Baliana and Abydos. On the bank of the Nile just north of Komombo,

I observed a pair of Geese, which from their size I believe were Egyptian.

They were some way from our steamer, and I think were too large for

Buddy Shellduck.


I went out shooting one morning with Bussell Pasha, on some

water at Ezbet, near Cairo, where we saw Mallard, Pintail, Pochard,

and Teal, which last I also saw on the Sacred Lake at Karnak. A

White-eyed Pochard killed near Tel-el-Kebir was shown to me, and

I also saw two or three of these birds on the Sacred Lake.


A Marbled Teal and a Stiff-tailed Duck killed near Cairo, were sent

me by Bussell Pasha who asked the Zoo to skin them for me.


Our first morning in the Fayoum my wife and I were out on Lake

Karoun before sunrise, and were rowed into a somewhat inefficient

“ hide ” made of palm branches stuck in the bottom of the lake ;

just at dawn the Duck came in from a southerly direction and great

portions of the lake became smothered with them, and they appeared

to be about half Shoveller and half Tufted, and I could see no other

species of Duck. Just before dusk they could be seen clearing off in

the direction whence they came.


I saw one or two Cormorant on the Nile near Awfad Guebara.

I believe that I saw about three flocks of White Pelicans on the Nile

sandbanks ; from their shape I could not see what else they could be,

but it was most difficult to identify birds on these sandbanks ; in

many places the river must be quite a mile wide, and naturally the

steamer is always on the far side from the sandbanks. It is often very

shallow in the deepest part, and it is no uncommon thing for the steamer

to get stuck in these shallow reaches; two of the crew stand on either

side of the bows with long poles and continually feel the bottom, and

shout up to the bridge the depth as they go along.


The glare of the sun also was most extraordinary, birds looking

quite a different colour after one had passed them. With the flocks of

Pelican were always some tall birds which looked like Herons or may



