



Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images available at The Internet Archive)









                            EGYPTIAN BIRDS

                         _IN THE SAME SERIES._

                                 EGYPT

                       PAINTED AND DESCRIBED BY

                            R. TALBOT KELLY

                    R.I., R.B.A., F.R.G.S., F.Z.S.

               _Containing 75 Full-page Illustrations in
                               Colour._

                           Price =20s.= net.
                      (Post free, price 20s. 6d.)

                             PUBLISHED BY
                A. & C. BLACK, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.


AGENTS

  AMERICA      THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
                 64 & 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

  AUSTRALASIA  THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
                 205 FLINDERS LANE, MELBOURNE

  CANADA       THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LTD.
                 27 RICHMOND STREET WEST, TORONTO

  INDIA        MACMILLAN & COMPANY, LTD.
                 MACMILLAN BUILDING, BOMBAY
                 309 BOW BAZAAR STREET, CALCUTTA

[Illustration: COOT

The Sacred Lake, Karnak.]




                               EGYPTIAN
                                 BIRDS

                       FOR THE MOST PART SEEN IN
                            THE NILE VALLEY

                                  BY

                            CHARLES WHYMPER

                                LONDON
                        ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK
                                 1909

                             DEDICATED TO

                       His Highness The Khedive

                        IN GRATEFUL RECOGNITION

                OF MUCH PERSONAL KINDNESS AND INTEREST

                               SHOWN TO

                              THE AUTHOR




FOREWORD


The question is so often asked, "What is the name of that bird?" that
the author has tried in plainest fashion to answer such questions. The
scientific man will find little that is new in these pages; they are not
meant for him--they are alone meant for the wayfaring man who,
travelling this ancient Egypt, wishes to learn something of the birds he
sees.

C. W.

HOUGHTON, HUNTINGDONSHIRE, 1909.




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


1. Coot                                                    _Frontispiece_

                                                             FACING PAGE

2. Birds in Mid-air                                                    1

3. A View on the Nile near Minieh                                     10

4. Griffon Vulture                                                    14

5. Egyptian Vulture                                                   20

6. Egyptian Kite                                                      30

7. Kites in Flight                                                    32

8. Barn-Owl                                                           34

9. Little Owl                                                         38

10. Egyptian Eagle Owl                                                42

11. Hoopoe                                                            46

12. Common Kingfisher                                                 50

13. Black and White Kingfisher                                        52

14. Little Green Bee-Eater                                            54

15. Common Swallow and Egyptian Swallow                               60

16. Pale Crag Swallow                                                 62

17. White Wagtail                                                     66

18. Crested Lark                                                      70

19. White-rumped Chat and Rosy Chat                                   72

20. Blue-throated Warbler                                             74

21. Reed Warbler                                                      78

22. Sparrow                                                           82

23. Desert Bullfinch or Trumpeter Finch                               86

24. Hooded Crow                                                       90

25. Egyptian Palm Doves                                               92

26. Sand-Grouse                                                       94

27. Hey's Sand-Partridge                                             100

28. Quail                                                            104

29. Cream- Courser                                           108

30. Green Plover or Lapwing                                          112

31. Spur-winged Plover                                               114

32. Black-headed Plover                                              116

33. Ringed Plover                                                    120

34. Common Snipe                                                     126

35. Painted Snipe                                                    128

36. Avocet                                                           130

37. Sacred Ibis and Papyrus                                          132

38. Cranes                                                           136

39. Spoonbills                                                       140

40. Black Stork                                                      142

41. Shoebill Stork                                                   148

42. Herons                                                           152

43. Buff-backed Heron                                                156

44. Night Heron                                                      160

45. Flamingo                                                         162

46. Studies of Gallinule                                             168

47. Egyptian Geese                                                   174

48. Pintail, Teal, and Shoveller Duck                                178

49. White Pelicans                                                   186

50. Cormorants                                                       192

51. Lesser Black-backed Gull and Black-headed Gull                   198

_Also eleven line drawings in the text._

[Illustration: BIRDS IN MID-AIR]




EGYPTIAN BIRDS


Pliny declares that it was by watching the flight of birds in general,
and of the Kite in particular, that men first conceived the idea of
steering their boats and ships with a tail or rudder, for, says he,
"these birds by the turning and steering by their tails showed in the
air what was needful to be done in the deep." Nowhere can the aerial
movements of birds be better studied than on the Nile, and as one's eye
becomes trained it is just by the varying individual methods of flight
that one is often able to identify the particular species of birds. This
is to the most casual observer self-evident in those birds that fly
close, near, or over one's head; but it is astonishing how, as the eye
gets trained, even a faint speck high up in mid-air can be absolutely
identified by some peculiarity of shape and movement. On Plate 2 are
some half-dozen different birds depicted as in flight, to assist the
reader to identify the birds he will frequently see.

No. 1 is the ordinary Kite of Egypt. Seen as soon as one lands at
Alexandria or Port Said: it is with us everywhere. Its most distinctive
characteristics are the forked shape of its tail, and its familiarity
with man, the latter leading it to have no sort of fear of flying near
one, so near that its yellow beak and ever-restless eye, as it turns its
head this way or that, can easily be seen, whilst its tail, moving in
sympathy, sweeps it round to right or left.

No. 2 is the Kestrel, or Windhover of England. As this hawk is not a
devourer of carrion, but feeds on mice, lizards, beetles, and other
living things, it does not usually come so near the habitations of men,
and is rarely seen in the centre of cities, but on the outskirts of
towns and up the country it is common enough. When seen hovering with
its body hanging in mid-air, with its wings rapidly beating above its
head as shown, there should be no difficulty in recognising it. Again,
when flying low its rich brown-red plumage and sharp-pointed wings
should be noted, and if seen dashing into some cleft of ruined masonry
or rocky cliff-side it can often be identified by the incessant,
penetrating, squeaky call of the young in the nest, for by the time most
visitors are in the country, _i.e._ March and April, it has its young
nearly fully fledged.

No. 3 is a Peregrine Falcon. In general shape this is typical of all
the falcons, and gives a characteristic attitude in its rushing downward
swoop. The head is blunt and sunk into the shoulders, the wings are
stiff, rigid, pointed and powerful, the tail straight and firm.

Nos. 4 and 5 are Vultures shown flying farther away from the spectator's
eye, and consequently on a smaller scale. The black and white of the
adult Egyptian Vulture, No. 4, is such a distinctive characteristic that
recognition is easy, but in the case of the young bird the plumage is
dirty brown and grey with faint dark streaks on it, and at that stage
might be confused with Griffon Vultures, if it were not for its smaller
size. In flying, the way it tucks its head in so that only its bill
seems visible, and the