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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-coloured 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 very small tail in proportion to the wing area,
are the outstanding peculiarities of this, and indeed all Vultures.
No. 5 shows a distant group of Griffons, purposely placed at a distance,
as on the small space of a page, if they were brought as near the eye as
the other birds, they would completely cover the whole space, for they
have an enormous span of wing. Note how small the tail is, and how the
head is practically invisible.
Nos. 6 and 7 are of different orders of birds altogether, one being a
Stork, the other the Heron. The Storks fly with outstretched neck,
whilst all of the great family of Herons fly with their neck doubled up
and the head rather tucked back towards the shoulders.
If these seven characteristic diagrammatic pictures of birds are once
really learnt, it will enable the most ordinary observer not only to
know those particular six birds, but the whole families, meaning many
scores of birds of which these are chosen as representatives. The
eyesight of some may need help in the form of a good field-glass. What
is a good field-glass each individual must discover for him or herself,
since the good glass is the one that really suits the sight of its
owner. Some of the most noted glasses of to-day are not, anyhow to
myself, of as much use as an old-fashioned one that I have had for
years, and with which I am able _at once_ to "get on" to the object I
wish to observe. This is a most important detail, because birds are
rarely still or quiet for long. When flying, this is particularly the
case, and the simpler the glass and its mechanism the quicker you are on
the object,--and this when, perhaps, you have only a matter of seconds
for your observation is of first importance. As I do not wish either to
embark on a libel action on the one side, or act as an advertiser of any
maker, not even of the maker of my own glass, I praise or blame none,
but suggest with all earnestness to every one who desires to really
enjoy the study of bird life on the Nile or in their own country,
without fail to get a glass that suits them, and which they can handle
with lightning speed. I dwell on this because I have met so many having
most expensive modern glasses who say they cannot find any pleasure in
using them on birds, and I generally find that it is owing to the small
field that their glasses cover. Sometimes these glasses are of quite
extraordinary power, so that I have heard a man declare he could see a
fly crawling over a carved face on the tip-top of some far-away temple,
but that type of glass is not what is wanted for rough and ready quick
field work, and it is of no more use than the three-feet long telescope
still beloved by the Scotch stalkers. Birds rarely if ever allow time
for one to lie down on one's back, and with help of stout stick and the
top of knee make a firm stand on which to place the glass and get the
range. Over twenty-five years ago I wrote on "Nature through a
Field-glass,"[1] and although since then one has had to alter one's
views on so many different points, I do not think I would wish to alter
one single word in the claim made for the value of this aid to Nature
study. So many birds are such small objects, that ten or fifteen paces
away they are mere spots, and very difficult to recognise, as the detail
of their plumage at that distance is lost, and all you can say is, that
it is some small bird, but with a glass you can have it brought up to
your very eye, you can see the arrangement of the masses of the
feathers, and note even the ever lifting and falling of its little
crest, as it goes creeping and stealthily gliding through the twigs and
bushes after its insect food.
[1] In _The Art Journal_.
Egypt certainly is singularly fortunate in that birds here are far tamer
than we find them at home, and so admit of a closer inspection; but even
so, I should have been, times without number, utterly at a loss to
exactly identify certain birds if it were not for my trusty glasses.
There are some occasions where, owing to the extraordinary tameness of
birds, no glasses are needed, and I recommend to all bird enthusiasts
the ground within the areas under the control of the Antiquities
Department. No guns are allowed there, as they are up and down the Nile,
and the birds know it. One of my favourite places of observation was at
the Sacred Lake at Karnac. By the courtesy of Mr. Weigall, Chief
Inspector of Antiquities, Upper Egypt, I was allowed to sleep in a
disused building by the water-side, and by that means enjoyed
opportunities, which fall to the lot of few, of studying bird life from
midnight to early morning, and it is astonishing the number of birds
that foregather to that quiet spot. Practically all night through there
were sounds of birds coming or going at intervals. The calling of Coots
one to another were the commonest sounds during the darkest hours; but
at about 3 A.M., when I thought I could discern a little light, I would
distinctly hear the "scarpe scarpe" cry of Snipe. A little later the
hooting of the Eagle Owl, whom I knew had his nest up on the top of one
of the end columns of the great hall, and then gradually from this side,
then from that, came an ever-increasing series of calls and pipings, and
one could make out flocks of Duck disappearing over the ridge of sand
and broken-up masses of masonry. Later, shadowy forms of Greenshank or
Plover showed as they went paddling by some faintly lighted-up pool,
till at last the sun was up, and crested Larks were running round the
banks fearlessly, and blue-throated warblers were hopping about the few
bushes at the edge, and ever and anon flitting down to the ground and
back again to the leafy shelter.
The question is asked and asked, but no very distinct answer comes, why
are the birds so tame in Egypt? I am at a loss to know myself, for the
land teems with foxes, jackals, kites, vultures, eagles, falcons, and
hawks without end, all with an eye to business, ever circling round
ready to devour any unprotected thing they can lay claws upon, and yet
this seemingly utter fearlessness of all these mild-natured, defenceless
little birds. Further, here in Egypt are perhaps more "demon boys" than
are to be found elsewhere, and I hold firmly with the ancient sage, who
said "that of all savage beasts the boy is the worst," so that the
tameness of some of Egypt's birds is one more mystery of this land of
mysteries.
In the following pages I have almost entirely spoken of the particular
birds pictured in the illustrations. I am quite prepared for the
question, however, "But why did you not include such and such a bird?"
and my defence can only be the old one of the difficulty of settling
various person's ideas of what should be considered the best
representative list of anything--whether it be birds, books, or pretty
women. It must also be remembered that Egypt proper--the area alone
treated upon in these pages--begins at Alexandria and ends at Assoan, a
stretch of country of about 525 miles, whilst the breadth may be
anything from fifty miles to less than one. From that area our selection
has had to be mainly confined, and it has meant excluding a certain
number of very beautiful and interesting forms.
Bird lovers should remember that when the, at first, seemingly rather
extortionate demand of 120 piastres is made, before they are given the
card which admits them to the temples, tombs, and areas under the
control of the Antiquities Department, they are, in a very important
way, really helping on the preservation of birds, for, as already has
been said, on no ground under the control of the Department are birds
allowed to be shot, and as these spots are the very ones in all Egypt
most visited, it is very necessary, as amongst the thousands of tourists
that are made familiar with the fact that wild duck, snipe, and waders
were very tame at these places, there would always be some
unsportsmanlike guns, who would seize the opportunity of going to those
very places. Then no longer would the hooting of owls be heard in the
ruins, no swallows nesting in the rock-hewn tombs, and no coot and
wildfowl would ever be seen on the small sheets of water or sacred lakes
that adjoin the temples. That all these birds are there means a very
great added interest to these places to every one, and to some of us
bird enthusiasts the living interest is greater than that which we can
whip up for those heavy, severe, architectural achievements, or wild
chaotic masses of ruined masonry.
Elsewhere the point of the scarcity of bird life in the hot summer
months has been spoken of, but it is also curious to note that there are
just about three to five weeks of mid-winter during which there is no
migratory wave seemingly going on at all, up or down the Nile valley. No
bands, great or small, of birds heading due north or due south are ever
to be seen, and the remark is often made on the paucity of bird life,
some persons even declaring that it is "a birdless land." That the
native birds are very small in number is true, but the total number of
birds, and varieties of birds, that come for a time and pass on is very
great. Those that live in temperate climes do, however, have the best of
the deal, as it must ever be a greater
[Illustration: A VIEW ON THE NILE NEAR MINIEH]
possession to have the birds nesting around one than merely passing
by in migrating flights, be those flights as amazing as they may. Birds,
from whatever reason is not certainly known, do not love the excessively
hot or cold areas as breeding-places, but do seem to love the more
moderate temperate climes. In Great Britain the number of birds that
will and do breed within a very small tract of ground is amazing, and
Mr. Kearton tells of a small copse in Hertfordshire in which were the
nests, with eggs or young, of nine different species of birds, all
within fifty yards of one another; and in another case, within a space
of ten yards, were a tit's, a flycatcher's, and a wood wren's nest. In
Egypt, the number of birds breeding is not large, and excepting some of
the great lakes with their margins of shallow water and swampy reeds,
there are few places that offer any attractions for birds to nest in any
numbers. In the groves of palms you do get many doves building in close
proximity with kites and crows, and along certain stretches of the Nile
banks large colonies of sand-martins build, but with these exceptions
the fact remains that this country has not a large list of birds
breeding in any numbers. In the great lakes of Lower Egypt and the
Fayoum there are, however, enormous areas of some of the best
feeding-grounds imaginable for water-fowl, and the fowl know it; nowhere
can be seen more variety of duck, and herons, and waders, and shore
birds, than at Lake Menzaleh. Elsewhere, I have already referred to my
visit in March and April to this little known part of Egypt, and I wish
that those who say this is "a birdless land," would only go and stay a
few days at Kantara, Matariya, Damietta or Port Said, and then see if
they could still call it "birdless." The extreme north and east side of
the lake is separated only from the Mediterranean by a narrow bank of
sand. Its waters are brackish, the Nile contributes but little to its
bulk, and the opinion is largely held that if it could be made to
contribute more, the food supply for the fish in it would be
considerably increased, to the very great benefit of the fish supply of
the country. Every village and town on the lake has many fishermen with
boats out night and day. They catch a very large quantity, but it is
said every year the size of the fish caught is steadily decreasing, and
to increase the food-supply for the fish is now the aim of the
authorities. This matter does not immediately affect the birds, as they
love the small fry, but if Lake Menzaleh were to once lose its value as
a supplier of profitable fish food, it might come to pass that some
future engineer would turn his attention to this great area of waste
water, and turn it into profitable cultivated ground, and then the birds
would be driven away here as completely as they were in England when our
fens and meres were drained to make good corn land. Therefore, this
proposal to let in more Nile water is of much importance to Menzaleh
remaining the great stronghold of bird life in Egypt. At present the
spectacle it presents of its crowds of birds seen under the almost
constant blue sky, is one that all would be very sorry to lose. The
Flamingo come as its crowning glory, but the list of birds is long, and
Mr. M. J. Nicoll tells how in only one week's stay, at Gheit-el-Nassara,
on the north-west side of the lake, he met with no less than
eighty-seven species. The ordinary visitor to Egypt hurries away from
Alexandria or Port Said, but any who love Nature ought to leave a few
days for places other than the Nile, if they are to obtain anything at
all like a complete knowledge of Egyptian Birds.
THE GRIFFON VULTURE[2]
Gyps fulvus
Arabic, _Rakham_.
Head and neck bare of fine feathers, but covered with short white
down. Lower part of the neck surrounded by a ruff of long, thin,
lance-shaped feathers, generally but not always white; sometimes it
is buffish, sometimes rich rufous; wings at shoulders are light
greyish brown, getting darker to nearly black on the large flight
feathers. Breast and flanks grey, brown under tail-coverts a
brighter burnt-sienna tone. Legs dull grey; base of beak yellow.
Young birds are generally duller and lighter coloured than adults.
Length, 48 inches, but individuals vary greatly.
This is the Vulture so constantly depicted on the monuments of Egypt,
and I do not think that any one has ever raised the slightest doubt of
its identity; but the same can hardly be said of all the birds thereon
figured.
[2]
EAGLES, VULTURES, HAWKS
Many different arrangements have been made of the order in which birds
should be placed, some placing one, others, another family first, and
the wise men are even yet not all agreed, so that the old-time method
has been adopted of beginning with the birds of prey, since it is
probably the order with which the ordinary reader is most familiar.
Eagles are not common, and though in the complete list of Egyptian
birds the names of four are given, it is hardly likely to be a bird
seen, whilst Vultures and Kites, and certain Hawks, most certainly
will be.
[Illustration: GRIFFON VULTURE]
Mr. Howard Carter, whose long connection with the work of the
Antiquities of Egypt gives him the right to speak with authority, is now
preparing for publication a book on this whole subject of the portrayal
of animal life by Egyptian art, which is awaited with great interest, as
he has given years of study to this one branch; and though I may venture
to say something now and again of the present-day birds, and their
pictured presentments in temples or tombs, the reader will do well to
wait till Mr. Carter's book is published before coming to too positive a
conclusion on a rather vexed subject. Of the Vulture there is no doubt,
but of which of the existing hawks was the model of the Hawk almost as
frequently depicted as the Vulture few are agreed, and personally I can
arrive at no very satisfactory conclusion.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.
GYPS FULVUS--GRIFFON VULTURE.
_From a monument of Nectanebo in the Louvre._]
The Griffon Vulture is common now, and probably always has been. Its
usefulness is undeniable, and it practically does no harm. It takes no
toll of lambs or kids, and I never have heard of it snatching up the
smallest of chickens. Its food is entirely carrion with the addition,
possibly, of an occasional lizard or small snake. Vultures and Kites
together are the very best of workmen, for the work they undertake they
do absolutely thoroughly. No one has to go after them and clear up what
they leave half-done, for they never leave anything half-done, be it a
dead camel, or ten dead donkeys, or a mass of putrid offal from the
shambles. They come; they see; they swallow; and not one speck or scrap
of flesh or sinew will be left to-morrow on all those snow-white bones,
and not the slightest sign of anything that can putrefy will even stain
the ground; all is cleared away, and all corrupting danger gone by the
time they have flown. They will remain all night through and the next
day, if the job is a big one, and never dream of charging overtime! It
is doubtless this that makes the natives of Eastern countries so
unspeakably careless, as we think, of all sanitary precautions. They
know that they need take no trouble; in a matter of hours, days at most,
these winged scavengers will come, save them all bother and trouble, and
clear the mess away. It is also this, one is disposed to think, and
this alone, that is at the bottom of what to us seems an amazing fact,
that they never destroy birds, so that even birds whose travels take
them out of Egypt for a season, returning, know that here anyhow they
will not be molested, and show themselves familiarly where in other
countries they would exhibit the very opposite tendency.
Of late years a change has undoubtedly taken place in some birds owing
to the ever-increasing number of visitors, many of whom come with guns
determined to get specimens. Birds are not fools, and the great Griffon
in particular seems to have learnt that it behoves him to have a care,
and distrust the too near approach of the white man who may desire to
possess his great wings to mount as trophies: and one has heard of its
becoming quite a difficult matter to get within range of these grand
birds. Grand birds they are indeed when seen on the wing fairly near.
When far up in mid-air they strike your imagination as mysterious,
marvellous masters of the air, but see them close enough to make out
their very feathers, and then no other word comes to your lips but,
"What grand birds!" All the sleepy, dull, heavy look that they have when
clumsily walking, half hopping, on the ground, or when sitting huddled
up, at once disappears, and you acclaim the Griffon the king of flying
things. A sea-gull, a swallow, an eagle, and many another, are all
splendid in their graceful mastery over, and use of, the air we live in,
but for sheer majesty of dominion I know no equal to the great Griffon
Vulture.
One has often seen it on the sand-banks by the river's side, sitting
perhaps, either dozing after a gorge or waiting for the late lamented to
reach just that nice point which means dinner-time. Sometimes they
mildly squabble amongst themselves; sometimes they advance open-mouthed
on some late arrival who comes swooping down with feet and legs
stretched out well in front of him. But on the whole, I think, after its
flight, its one outstanding virtue is its sociability. We none of us
quite like that person who shuns his fellows, and was never known to
have any gathering of friends even in simplest social fashion, and with
birds there are some of those selfish kinds who prefer to live alone and
feed alone, and absolutely resent any attempted sociability. But the
Vulture, in spite of his rather forbidding face, is a downright sociable
creature. On many a time one has seen Egyptian Vultures feeding with a
dozen of their bigger cousins, who, when themselves well fed, have
allowed even the despised crows to have some pickings from the feast.
Being tied up to a bank for two or three days during the Hamseen wind,
which was blowing a perfect gale right in our teeth, I saw a curious
sight of Vultures turning themselves into a sort of coroner's jury on a
dead buffalo. In the centre of a little sheltered bay was the "dear
departed," who was being closely examined and overhauled by a gaunt,
sandy-coloured native dog. There he sat like a coroner growling out his
observations, whilst the twelve--there were just a dozen Vultures--sat
placidly waiting their turn for a closer study of the remains. They sat
so long and patiently that one was surprised they did not end the matter
in force, drive away the presiding officer, and get to real business,
but we left them still waiting and seemingly discussing what was to be
the verdict.
Whenever one has been taken to see a Vulture in captivity, either in
hotel or other gardens, it has usually been this, the Griffon Vulture,
that has been the unhappy captive.
THE EGYPTIAN VULTURE
Neophron percnopterus
_Racham_, Arabic
White all over body, wings black, a curious fringe of long feathers
round the head; these sometimes get stained a more or less strong
yellow; bare parts round eye and beak, yellow. Legs pinky, eyes
carmine red, but Shelley says they do not get the full red eye till
their fourth year.
Entire length, 27 inches.
This vulture, as shown by the above description, is markedly different
from the great Griffon Vulture, and there can be no possible mistake in
recognising it. From the tail-piece, which is taken from a painting of
one on the inside of a wooden outside coffin casing, one can easily see
the peculiarities of this bird; and at Deir-el-Bahari there are many
painted examples showing the bird more or less in its natural colours,
the bright yellow of the bill is shown, and the dark wings are rendered
in a dull green. Why they should render one colour by another seems
strange, but here again we must wait till Mr. Howard Carter gives us his
explanation of this and the many other points he is still patiently
working out. The wonderful way in
[Illustration: EGYPTIAN VULTURE]
which the vultures assemble directly there is anything in the way
of carrion has been often noticed: they will appear where a moment
before there was not one to be seen either on the earth or in the blue
vault. And this was at one time regarded as one of the wonders of the
bird world; but as is so often the case, more exact knowledge rather
reduces the marvellous. The habit of vultures is to fly at a very great
height and to keep circling round; each bird practically keeps to one
area, another takes a great sweeping circle adjoining; and others all
the way round are in the same fashion, ever circling on the look-out.
The moment one discerns anything down he swoops; this is instantly
observed by the bird on the adjoining beat, and down he rushes; this
again is repeated indefinitely, and so in a few minutes a dozen or more
vultures may be there at the find where before were none. The circles
that each make are frequently very large, perhaps many miles; it can
easily be imagined, therefore, what a large area can be covered, and
covered most minutely, by, say, half a dozen birds. The young are very
different in plumage, being a rather dirty grey-brown all over, with
brown eyes, and they retain this peculiarity till their fourth year,
when they get the white and black plumage. But they somehow always look
untidy birds. This perhaps holds good of all vultures when sitting in
repose; their wings seem to be too loose jointed, and they hang their
feathers so as to give the impression that they are not firmly fixed in
and might fall out, but the moment they spring into the air their wings
gain at once a sort of rigidity, and all the sloppy, untidy effect
disappears. This bird is certainly more often seen than the preceding,
since it is not afraid of the haunts of man; but one is not at all
certain that it is really commoner. In all the representations of this
as of other birds, the old Egyptian artists have a curious habit of
depicting their birds with their legs stretched out too far in front,
and looking as if the bird were in danger of falling over backwards.
Once as we were drifting by a bit of sandbank, the river being very low,
I remember well an awful-looking, unrecognisable object, dirty,
dishevelled, and, as children say, "very bluggy," coming towards us over
the skyline. It more resembled some poor drunk man who had been fighting
and had got fearfully knocked about, and what bird it was, if bird at
all, we knew not. Well, this dilapidated-looking thing walked slowly
down the slope to the water's edge; then we saw it had been having a
real gorge; it was hideously rotund, and had apparently been living
inside "the joint" until, sick with repletion, unable to fly, its very
feathers clogged with gore, it made its way down to refreshen and clean
itself, which when done, to our surprise it turned out to be just a
common Egyptian Vulture.
Why the Vultures are featherless on neck and head is told in an old
story in Curzon's _Monasteries of the Levant_. King Solomon, according
to this account, was journeying in the heat of the day. "The fiery beams
were beginning to scorch his neck and shoulders when he saw a flock of
vultures flying past. 'O Vultures!' cried King Solomon, 'come and fly
between me and the sun, and make a shadow with your wings to protect me,
for its rays are scorching my neck and face.' But the Vultures would
not, so the King lifted up his voice and cursed them, and told them that
as they would not obey, 'The feathers of your neck shall fall off, and
the heat of the sun, and the cold of the winter, and the keenness of the
wind, and the beating of the rain, shall fall upon your rebellious
necks, which shall not be protected like other birds. And whereas you
have hitherto fared delicately, henceforth ye shall eat carrion and
feed upon offal; and your race shall be impure till the end of the
world.' And it was done unto the Vultures as King Solomon had said."
[Illustration]
[Illustration: FIGS. 3 AND 4.
_Drawing from a painting of a Hawk at Karnak, to show the overlap of the
wing feathers._]
THE KESTREL
Falco tinnunculus
The male has the upper plumage of head, back, and wings red-brown,
spotted and barred with black; under-parts buff with black spots on
flanks, and which on breast are smaller and closer together, making
long lines. Rump and tail blue-grey, barred with black, one broad
bar at end of tail tipped with pure white, base of bill and legs
yellow, eyes brown. The female is without the blue-grey, and is
more evenly brown all over, with spots and bars on the tail.
Length, 13·5 inches.
This is the commonest Hawk, and nests in nearly all the ruins of temples
and old buildings up and down the land, and, as already stated, the
young are often to be heard when they cannot be seen, calling with their
incessant squeaky voice for their devoted parents. The parents are to be
seen searching for food, hovering over the fields in the same way that
they do at home, for this bird is the familiar Windhover (see Plate
II.). The quantity of mice that it consumes is enormous, and of lizards,
beetles, and particularly locusts, it also takes toll. So that though it
does not do the useful work that the Kites are doing day by day, it
still clears the land of what would otherwise be grave scourges.
The Kestrel is one of the birds of which large quantities of mummies
have been found, and it was clearly treated with quite sacred rites,
lending colour to the views of some that this is the original of the
Hawk so frequently pictured and sculptured. This question is one,
however, that as doctors disagree upon, it is not for a layman to
venture judgment; but several of the best preserved specimens of
wall-paintings at Deir-el-Bahari in their drawing suggest much more the
shape of a long-legged Sparrow Hawk than the compact Kestrel. The
colouring of these pictures is so different, sometimes one part of a
bird will be in red, in others it will be green. We are told, however,
that this is all right and they both are right; this is something of a
mystery and passes my own comprehension. The view is certainly possible
that these ancient artists never thought any future race of mankind
would come worrying round to know what particular specific kind of bird
was meant, they alone desiring to give a rendering of a typical Hawk.
Honestly admiring the fine work of these old artists, I yet retain my
own liberty to point out what is wrong, and the accompanying
illustrations show a very glaring error which is repeated over and over
again, a thousand times, throughout the temples and tombs of the
country. Fig. 3 shows the two wings of a painted hawk at Karnak; the
right wing shows the outside, the left the inside of the wing. In the
right wing the feathers are shown with their front edge lapping over the
hind edge of the feather next in front. This gives a certain strength to
the whole surface of the wing-area needed for flight, and if that be an
accurate representation of the outside of a Hawk's wing in nature, and
it is, then it follows that the inside surface would show the reverse;
that is to say, the free edge of each feather would show over-lapping
the feather next behind it, as shown in figures Nos. 4 and 5. But Fig. 3
shows how the ancients thought birds should have their feathers placed,
back and front, both identical. In all humility, I have once or twice
pointed this out to devout Egyptologists, but they pass it over. "A mere
convention," they say; "they always render wings so; worship, worship!"
[Illustration: FIG. 5.
_Drawing of the primary quills of a Hawk, from Nature. Seen from the
under surface to show the overlap of the feathers._]
Mr. J. H. Gurney says that Egyptian Kestrels are certainly bolder than
the British, and that he has "seen one swoop at a Booted Eagle," and
another "feather a Hooded Crow which ventured too near its nest." He
also draws attention to its size, and I think that it is certainly
frequently of smaller dimensions than those at home; indeed, on the
score of size, it is not easy to distinguish it from the Lesser Kestrel.
There are two Kestrels in Egypt: the one we have already described, and
the Lesser Kestrel, which is like a small edition of the former, with
the exception that his back and wings of bright red-brown are without
spots, and the breast is only marked with small black spots, while the
claws are yellowish white. Its length is 11.5 inches. When seen flying
it is well-nigh impossible to identify it from the larger species, and I
have heard of cases of men having shot what they thought was the Common
Kestrel, and finding to their astonishment that it was the much rarer
Lesser Kestrel. Its food consists mainly of insects and beetles, but it
varies this stock diet with mice. I have seen it sitting in a cleft of
the wall of the Ramaseum and other temples, but it is by no means a
common bird. It nests commonly in the ruins and temples, and on the high
cliffs, and its young can be oftener heard than seen, as they utter a
very penetrating squeak, squeak, squeak call.
THE PARASITIC KITE OR EGYPTIAN KITE
Milvus aegyptius
Arabic, _Hiddayer_
Plumage--Head and neck grey; back and wings dark brown, under parts
a rufous brown, the edges of the feathers lighter than the centres,
which have a dusky streak, whilst the tail is broadly barred. Cere
and legs yellow.
This Kite, which is seen everywhere, is not the Kite which we have
accounts of as being once common in England, and which could be seen
long years ago flying round St. Paul's Cathedral; but it is a true
Egyptian native. I have it from men who have lived long in Egypt,
through summer as well as winter, that in the really hot months this
bird is practically the only feathered fowl one ever does see during
those glaring months. There may be other birds left in the country, but
you do not see them; they wisely keep out of sight in whatever isolated
shaded place they can find. The Kite alone bears the full glare of that
broiling sun, ever on the look out for every chance of a mouthful of any
decaying nastiness it can secure, and
[Illustration: EGYPTIAN KITE]
in this is the secret of its privileged position; unmolested even
in the busiest haunts of men, secure in crowded city or up-country
village, its services as scavenger are invaluable, and when every other
bird has fled it never for a day quits its post or ceases its labours.
We will spare the reader a detailed menu of this omnivorous bird, but
all who visit Egypt ought to bless it, as until some enlightened system
of sanitation is adopted, this bird, almost unaided, makes the land
possible to live in, or to be visited with any safety or pleasure. If it
were exterminated as the Kites have been in Great Britain, it is almost
impossible to exaggerate what would be the dire results to the health of
the newcomers to this old Eastern country. Mercifully there seems no
sort of chance of its numbers decreasing. Indeed, in 1908 I saw behind
the New Winter Palace Hotel at Luxor, a flock which certainly ran into
hundreds; two dead donkeys thrown out behind the walls of the Hotel
grounds were the cause of this vast congregation. They never leave a
shred of anything more than the bones, picked as clean and white as the
paper this is printed on; they tidy it all up, and for days after the
main body of birds have left, a stray bird or two comes sweeping down
to see if there is any tiny scrap of flesh, or skin, or sinew left
hidden away under stone or sand. On several occasions I have seen Kites
bathing in the water, so presumably, although they are called unclean
birds, they are in reality as cleanly as most. As far as personal
observation goes I should call the Swifts and Swallows the dirtiest
birds; anyhow they are more infested with odious parasites than any
other birds I have handled. Kites build untidy, clumsy nests of sticks;
rubbish, rags, and even bits of newspapers are to be sometimes found
hanging on the outside: they are generally placed in the upper boughs of
some high tree, and in many of the gardens in the centre of squares in
Cairo you can watch them bringing food to their squealing young. They
breed very early, and often they have a brood hatched by the end of
January.
There is something very fascinating in watching their flight, it seems
so easy and strong, and from its complete fearlessness it approaches so
near the spectator that the movement of the tail as it turns to right or
left can be seen acting as a well-directed rudder. As already stated,
Pliny says it was observing this that gave man his first idea of how to
steer his boats and ships. And
[Illustration: KITES IN FLIGHT]
the frequent stooping of the head down to the food it holds in its
feet is another interesting action that can be watched clearly without
the aid of field-glasses, as it passes close overhead. The tail of the
young is not so forked as in the adult, and the general plumage duller
coloured all over.
The Black Kite, _Milvus migrans_, is said to be a very rare bird in
Egypt, but I certainly think it is commoner than some imagine. It is
very similar in general appearance to the last, and unless seen very
near is hard to identify. On 13th January 1908 I was fortunate, however,
in seeing some three or four at the river-side at Karnak, beaten down
low by a high wind, with completely black beaks and very dark rich
black-brown plumage. Mr. Erskine Nicol, who was with me, also noted
them. Shelley says, "The general shade of the plumage is blacker. The
dark streaks down the centres of feathers on throat and crop are broader
than in the Egyptian Kite, and the bill is entirely black."
Length, 23·3 inches.
WHITE OWL, SCREECH OWL
=Strix flammea=
Arabic, _Boma buda_
Plumage of upper-parts a tawny yellow, mottled, speckled, and
pencilled with delicate grey, black and white; face white, as are
the under-parts; individuals vary in being lighter or darker;
buffish-white on chest, feet pinkish, beak yellowish. Entire
length, 13·5 inches.
Either of the two last English names are perhaps in this case more
suitable than the first, as barns in Egypt are scarce, whilst this owl
is common, and is met with in temples and tombs fairly frequently.
In the past it must always have been a common bird, as it is one of the
few quite easily identified birds used in hieroglyphics (in spite of
which, to my astonishment, in a recent work on Egypt this owl is called
the Horned Owl).
The Barn Owl has practically a world-wide range, being found not only in
Europe but Africa, Asia, Australia, and America, and though examples
from certain localities do show some variation in plumage, it is still
always unmistakably the Barn Owl. It
[ILLUSTRATION: BARN-OWL]
is, however, not met with within the Arctic Circle. At home its
food is nearly entirely mice, but in Egypt it has no hedgerows to hunt,
no large farmyards and rich granaries, and though it does get some mice
it has to take lizards, an occasional small bird, and sometimes fish, or
even scraps of carrion.
Of all the owls this has the softest, most silent flight, and this in
itself is somewhat uncanny as it quite quietly passes close to you, and
then disappears in the gloom, from which a little later may come a
terrifying screech as of a strangled infant. There is little room for
wonder, then, that all simple folk should have regarded this bird as
evil-omened: and the old Scriptures have many references in this spirit
when describing places haunted, desolated, the "abode of owls and
dragons." To this day, in our own country, the feeling is evinced most
strangely in spite of all our modern education. Very cleverly the early
Egyptians caught the most salient feature--the extraordinary large
mask-like face--and in some of the wall decorations at Deir-el-Bahari,
which are in perfect preservation, it would be well-nigh impossible to
improve on them as exact portraits of the Barn Owl. A possible cause of
the choice of this bird is that it is one of the best-known species: for
of all the owls this one is quite peculiar in its habit of rather
courting than flying from the haunts of man; for though it is in the
ruins of temples it is also to be found in the thick foliage near
villages and towns, and has even been noticed flying about in the very
heart of Cairo in the Ezbekeir Gardens, as recorded by Mr. J. H. Gurney
in his _Rambles of a Naturalist_--and the habit of attaching itself to
human habitations is universal wherever it is met the world round.
The Barn Owl has a custom which those who suffer from indigestion may
well envy, and that is its power of disgorging, after every meal, all
the indigestible portions of its dinner in a compact, round, hard
pellet, about the size of a nut: and from under some of its
roosting-places great basketsfull of these pellets have been collected,
and men of science analyzing these have obtained therefrom the most
precise information as to the diet of this much-persecuted bird. From
such observations the value of its services in our own country were
rather tardily recognised. But now that it is established that
nine-tenths of its food consists of mice and rats, the law of the land
has been invoked to protect it. Lord Lilford writes on the extraordinary
appetite of young owls, that "I have seen a young Barn Owl take down
nine full-grown mice one after another till the tail of the ninth stuck
out of his mouth, and in three hours' time the young 'gourmand' was
crying out for more."
[Illustration: FIG. 6.
_From Deir-el-Bahari._]
THE LITTLE OWL
Carine meridionalis
Plumage--A plain greyish-brown with dark markings and spots on the
breast; eyes yellow. Entire length, 8·5 inches.
The Little Owl is a common bird, but it is not, when flying, very
owl-like in appearance; and doubtless it is very often seen and not
recognised as an owl at all, especially as it flies freely in the
daytime, and I have even seen it sitting facing the sun on some wooden
trellis-work in a garden at mid-day; and not only once, but morning
after morning it could be seen enjoying the warmth. This peculiarity,
the very opposite of what we find in most owls, has led to an awkward
position in some parts of England--for in certain of the Midland
counties this owl is rapidly becoming a perfect scourge. Some
distinguished naturalists in Northamptonshire and other counties thought
it would be good to introduce this undoubtedly rather fascinating bird
from the Continent--where it is common--into the British Isles--where it
was very rare--so year after year
[ILLUSTRATION: LITTLE OWL]