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G. H. Gurney—Notes from Assouan



town quantities of Palm Doves, in tiny cages, awaiting this fate.

Being in bad health I am unable to do more than observe those species

which fall under my eye so to speak. I cannot manage, unfortunately,

to get out into the desert wadis and palm-groves where one might see

more species.


As I write (7th January) there is little or no migration going on, and

so the species which one does come across must be looked upon more

or less as residents. Compared with Luxor, the Fayaum, and the more

northerly parts of Egypt, I do not think Assouan can be considered

a good place for birds. The enormous population of Europeans employed

in connection with the never-ending works at the Great Dam, with the

consequent amount of river-craft of all descriptions dashing hither and

thither, not to mention the weekly arrival of one of Cook’s Tourist

steamers in Assouan itself, have driven away practically all bird life

from the immediate vicinity of the Nile, though of course in the

migration season, when the hordes of birds of every description are

dashing northwards, there must be many who, at any rate, stop for

a few hours on one of the many islands into which this part of the

Nile is broken up.


However, those which are here are of great interest, and give me

inexhaustible pleasure to watch, and I also marvel that none of the

many delectable species ever find their way into our aviaries. The

native boys are past-masters in the art of trapping and it seems to me

there would be plenty of scope for a collector to bring back a number

of species practically new to Aviculture !


I am wakened every morning by the melodious “ huh-huh ” from

a pair of Hoopoes who have already commenced to breed under the

roof over my balcony window. I constantly see them flying up with

short pieces of straw, and I well remember when I was here many years

ago digging out a Hoopoe’s nest which was almost entirely composed

of short pieces of straw. They are very abundant here, all now paired,

and it is amusing to watch them congregate when the gardener is

watering with a hose the plots of mown grass in the hotel garden ;

no doubt the water brings insects to the surface of the ground. Their

unmistakable note may be heard on all sides.


Quantities of the beautiful little Egyptian Palm-Dove inhabit the



