similar, as in its winter plumage it is practically white all over--just
a line of buff on the crown. It is of the greatest service to the cattle
when feeding or resting, as it seems to know no fear, and settles on
their backs, one or two at a time, and diligently searches for flies and
ticks and all those parasitic things that infest the poor brutes. I have
seen them walk right up to one of the recumbent buffaloes, and go
solemnly picking things off it all the way round its face, even off its
eyes, whilst the creature never ceased chewing the cud, and one saw its
jaw going solemnly round and round whilst the bird did its best to free
it from the pests. What Egypt would be without all these birds, who are
ceaselessly at work clearing the air of insect life, it is appalling to
contemplate, for with them the clouds of flies, midges, mosquitoes and
the rest render life in some places intolerable. No one quite knows what
flies are till one tries sketching out of doors here. With your palette
on one hand and brushes in the other, you are an easy prey to them, and
they take every advantage of the fact. They will cluster by the dozen on
your face, walk in brigades over the ridge of your nose, sting you on
the hand, at the back where your palette hides them from your view, and
even if you have a boy with a fly-wisp they will never leave you. I have
found them at their worst at the edges of the cultivated land, where
trees are often growing picturesquely, tempting the artist to sit in
their seductive shade; with most dire results, as one is almost eaten
alive, and one envies the cattle who are being so assiduously attended
to by these kindly fly-catchers.
The Egret is one of the many birds that the dragoman makes the tourist
happy by calling "the Ibis," and the number that return to their friends
gleefully telling how they saw a flock of Ibises grows every season. In
the article on the Ibis it is shown how ludicrously untrustworthy is the
dragoman's Natural History information.
The Buff-backed Heron may often be seen flying up or down the river in
little parties of
[Illustration: BUFF-BACKED HERON]
five or six. They look snow-white, and are then hard to tell from
Spoonbill or Egret; but they ought not to be mistaken for the
first-named bird, for, being Herons, they fly as all Herons do, with
head tucked in, whilst the Spoonbill flies with extended neck. This is a
real resident bird. Captain Shelley says it breeds in August in large
colonies in the sont trees, and that, in addition to being useful to the
poor cattle, it is of the greatest use to Egypt, as it wages war on the
locusts that would otherwise devastate the green crops and all growing
things.
I regret, however, that every year, according to the best evidence, this
bird is less and less seen. Twenty-five years ago it was to be met with,
off and on, everywhere, and in the Delta it was absolutely one of the
commonest of birds. The cause of its lessening numbers is not certain,
but when it is recalled that it is a form of Egret, and that from Egrets
come "aigrettes," one solution is apparent. Against that view, however,
in common justice, I must say that I have no scrap of evidence that
these birds are at all largely persecuted in Egypt, and they are, as
already said, a resident bird. Some undoubtedly migrate north; it may be
they never return, and so the annual decrease. Of the decrease there is
no doubt, and I have been told that now the natives--the men who till
the soil and benefit by its products--openly say that certain insect
pests the much-valued cotton suffers from nowadays is due, in their
opinion, to the reduced number of "little white birds" who used to come
in flocks, by hundreds, and search and find and devour these same insect
pests.
THE NIGHT HERON
Nycticorax griseus
Upper plumage dark to black, with blue-green reflections; two long
plumes from head; white wings and tail grey; under-parts a grey
buff-white; eyes crimson; young are dull grey and brown, mottled
and spotted. Total length, 21 inches.
This is a really common bird, but being nocturnal it is not very often
noticed. Many a sont or palm tree that people walk under may have four
or five sitting so quietly among the branches that they are not
observed; but towards evening--before the sun has actually dropped
behind the horizon--they begin to waken up; and curious "squawk, squawk"
calls, then flappings about as they move from branch to branch, will be
heard, till, as the afterglow begins, they all start mounting into the
air and taking great circles round and round, or away in a bee-line to
some favourite feeding-ground, where they remain all night, and return
at dawn to their roosting-places. In some trees in the garden of the old
Luxor Hotel, there is, as I write in 1909, a colony--two of the trees
they roost in hang over the very carriage roadway up to the
station,--noisy and bustling for three months of the year, yet they
remain in this old-time haunt undisturbed by all the changes that have
taken place in this ancient town. Twenty-seven years ago I saw them
there, but I have met people who declare there never was a time known
when Night Herons did not frequent this spot. There is a certain seat on
the front where one enters the hotel grounds, that is under some Lebekh
trees these Herons love, and I was early in the season horrified to hear
that the order had gone out to shoot all those that were there, as they
sometimes soiled the monstrous hats that the ladies were wearing. I
appealed in vain to the management--"They had had so many complaints,"
etc.--it must be, and was. I never dared ask how many were shot; and I
really do not see why the ladies could not take their hats off, or else
put up parasols. Anyhow, just because of women's hats, an historic
colony of these interesting birds in a very remarkable situation has
been in danger of being driven away. This Heron is not nearly so big as
our own familiar bird, and is rather squat and dumpy in shape, but he is
a fascinating, rather weird-looking creature. Occasionally, one or two
stray as far as Great Britain; but here in Egypt it
[Illustration: NIGHT HERON]
is to be met with, where it establishes a colony, in quite large
numbers, and, in the report I have frequently referred to on wild birds
that visit the Giza Zoological Gardens, it is stated that "Night Herons
begin to arrive during August, winter here, and leave during the spring
months. A few individuals, however, are seen throughout the summer. The
number of these birds, which spend the daytime in the gardens, has
greatly increased during the last ten years. 108 were counted on January
15, 1900; 360 on December 11, 1902. At present it is impossible to count
them."
All day long it sits moped up, out of the direct rays of the sun, in the
centre of a mass of overhanging foliage, and only wakes up when most
other birds are just falling to sleep. It feeds on fish, frogs, and even
water-beetles and insects.
THE FLAMINGO
Phoenicopterus antiquorum
Arabic, _Basharoush_
On the head, neck, and body, in the adult, a delicate coral pink
tints all the white: in younger birds these parts are pure white;
large wing-feathers black, all the rest various tones of red, from
a delicate rose to the deepest crimson; in young birds the wings
are of an ashy brown; legs and base of bill in the adult a pink
with a somewhat leaden hue; in young birds legs leaden; tip of bill
black; eyes, straw-yellow. Total length, 45 inches.
If it were not for zoological collections few of us would be as familiar
with the form of this strange bird as we are--for though there are
thousands and thousands of them in Egypt, it is generally only seen when
flying in great flocks high overhead, and it does not often give a
chance of a close inspection. But owing to its peculiarities it is
always a favourite, and young as well as old are interested in its
extraordinary length of leg and neck, and charmed with its brilliant
rosy-red plumage, so that all know something of its appearance if they
do not know much of its life-history. The Flamingo loves most of all
shallow water, and lives nearly all its days in the great brackish lakes
of Lower Egypt.
[Illustration: FLAMINGO]
H.H. the Khedive being informed of my desire to visit the Flamingo
at its home in Lake Menzaleh, exceedingly kindly granted me special
facilities, and I was able to go from end to end of this great lake and
from side to side, visiting every place where they were to be found. I
was allowed the use of one of the coastguard dahabeahs. These boats are
built on the lines of the native fishing-boats; being practically
flat-bottomed they draw but little water, which is necessary, as the
lake for its size is very shallow. It is this shallowness which makes
Menzaleh such a happy hunting-ground for all water-birds. It fairly
teems with birds; in February there are literally millions of Duck
there, with Cormorants, Pelicans, Herons, Flamingoes, and Waders of
every sort. In March they lessen in numbers, many only using it as a
place to spend a few weeks at before going north to their summer homes,
and by the time April comes there are not an overwhelming number; but
the Flamingoes keep there as a feeding-ground nearly all the year round,
and it was to see if they had their nesting-quarters there that I went
to Menzaleh early this year, 1909.
You cannot be long on the lake before you begin to understand why birds
love it so, for as you sail along you frequently see, first here, then
there, fish jumping out of the water, and when you look into the
shallows in all directions you see shoals of little fishes. Then the
number of fishing-boats, with their great nets picturesquely hung up to
dry, is another visible evidence of the teeming myriads of fish that
this saltish-water lake contains. The first Flamingoes I saw were in the
centre of a large flock of tufted Ducks. Leaving the dahabeah I got into
the small boat and quickly paddled towards them, but they would not
allow of a very near approach before up got the Duck, and then in
another moment the Flamingoes, who had up to then been feeding with
heads down in the water, were all on the wing--to rise they faced for
one minute in my direction, and the great mass of crimson feathers under
the wings made a most gorgeous spectacle against the blue sky; then they
swung round, and more white than red was visible, and quickly in a long
irregular line they were away to some less disturbed place. Only once
did I get really close up to one, and I found out afterwards by the
hanging leg that it only allowed me to because it was some poor crippled
bird. They are so shot at and persecuted generally that they are now
exceedingly shy, and in spite of the good feeding they get here it is
surprising they still keep to these waters in the numbers they do. At a
town called Matariya I visited a great local bird-dealer, one Angelino
Tedeschi. His place was on the outskirts of the town, and was a
collection of tumble-down shanties made of straw, matting, and boards.
Behind his own dwelling, which was literally worse than any Irish cabin,
were three enclosures made of tall reeds and split palm branches about
eight feet high, with more open lattice-work on the top; in these
enclosures were fully fifty to sixty Flamingoes. I walked right in, and
the birds did not stampede or dash themselves about, yet Angelino said
they had not long been caught. They were all in surprisingly good
condition, considering their numbers and cramped space. A door at one
end was opened and they filed out into the adjoining enclosure to have
their bath--a very dirty, muddy hole in the sodden ground, but they
seemed to enjoy it; one after the other, and sometimes two or three at a
time, all went in, and drank and splashed about, trumpeting a little,
and then they were driven back. I bought a particularly
brilliant-coloured one which had died that day, for the price the man
asked, three shillings, which seemed to me very cheap, as it was in
perfect order. I wanted one to make detailed studies of, and I took it
back to the boat with me, and worked from this poor bird till all the
crew covered their noses with their hands as they came near my model,
and I myself could stand it no longer, and it was tossed over as food
for the fishes, who later again would be food for others of its own
kindred. Scattered about Angelino's quarters were curious high crates
made of split palm branches and lined with canvas. Asking what they were
for, I was told they were the cages for the poor birds to be sent
away--"to America," he said--and I could get no more out of him. We
learned this man comes every winter from Alexandria, settles down in
these remarkable quarters, and buys his Flamingoes from the local
fishermen, who vary their ordinary pursuit by catching duck and any
wildfowl that they can net, and the result is that, though years ago
Flamingoes did nest on the lake, now not one does.
The form of the bill in the Flamingo always suggests a man with a broken
nose. The angular fall-back of the bill is nearly as singular as the
upturned one of the Avocet. As the Flamingo obtains its insect and other
food from the water, and the inside of its peculiar-shaped bill with
which it has to obtain this food is provided with a tooth-like serrated
margin like a duck's, it follows that to get the water into its mouth it
has to walk as shown in the illustration with its bill turned backwards.
This position I do not think is adopted by any other living bird, and is
the one outstanding individual peculiarity the Flamingo possesses. When
seen thus feeding it is far from graceful; the long neck is straightened
out, and the top of the head is to the front in the direction of which
it is moving, and the bill is pointed backwards towards the tail.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.]
GREEN-BACKED GALLINULE
Porphyrio Madagascariensis
Arabic, _Digmeh_
Whole plumage ultramarine blue shading into black, and on the back
shading into bluish-green; white under-tail; frontal and bill
blood-red, as are legs and feet; claws black; eye, deep
crimson-brown. Total length, 18 inches.
We have included this bird, as it is perhaps as handsome as any in all
Egypt, but it may be questioned whether many of our readers will come
across it, for it lives in dense reed beds which grow in the large lakes
of the Delta and Fayoom, and rarely quits them for the waters of the
Nile. Our own Waterhen, or Moorhen, is a sort of near cousin of this
bird, but whereas our bird always gives the impression of being animated
and cheery, this Egyptian Gallinule somehow looks depressed in spite of
its brilliant plumage; and when it walks, it does so with no indecent
haste, but slowly lifts one leg whilst the long toes hang loosely, and
then gently places it down on the ground, all the while holding its head
and body nearly perpendicularly, whilst, when not taking this strenuous
exercise, it
[Illustration: STUDIES OF GALLINULE]
sits with rounded shoulders on some stump or dead herbage by the
hour together. As its food seems to consist almost entirely of the inner
and soft parts of the shoots of reeds and other water-plants amongst
which it lives all its days, it does not have to make any special effort
to obtain food, and conceivably it may be one of those birds which are
on a slow downward grade towards extinction. There can be little doubt
but that the matter of food-supply has led many birds to alter their
methods of life. In some cases, finding an abundance of food ever ready
to hand, the use of the wings was abandoned, and with the inevitable
result that just as they ceased to fly so the wings ceased growing, till
at last they became flightless birds and at the mercy of each and every
enemy that might attack them. It may be that thinking on these things
has made the bird melancholy and depressed; but nothing can save it but
"bucking up" and using its powers. Mr. Erskine Nicol told me how once,
when out shooting, he saw one in a cornfield near a stack; he went
towards it and the bird ran behind the stack; when he followed, it would
not leave the friendly shelter, but by simply running round and round
always kept safe. Mr. Nicol at last got tired of this useless chase and
thought out a plan of campaign. Starting faster than ever, he ran round
after the bird, and then suddenly turned and ran round the opposite way,
when he met the melancholy Gallinule full face; and so flustered it that
it left the stack and flew at right angles away, giving a possible shot,
which was taken advantage of. On another occasion one was seen swimming
in a miserable little duck-pond outside a village, tenanted by tame
ducks, and the Gallinule absolutely refused to leave the sheltering
society of these farmyard birds. Both these incidents seem to point to
the same sort of method of life: "just sit tight, don't fly into the
open, risk nothing in the outside world, there are unknown dangers": so
it may be that this bird will sit, and sit, all humped up in its reed
jungle till at last it loses the power of flight altogether; and then,
before long, it will certainly fall a prey to some force or enemy which
it has no power of resisting or escaping from. Mr. J. H. Gurney has also
written of this bird, that just in the early morning or towards sunset
he has seen it leave the shelter of these great reed-beds, but keeping
quite close thereto, and at the least sign of danger running back to
them. Seldom or never has he seen it take even a flight of a few yards.
Along with its vegetable food it takes a certain number of small
aquatic insects, and when this food cannot be obtained it is not averse
to good hard grain of any kind. It lays six to eight eggs, which are
ruddy-brown spotted with dark purple-brown.
THE COOT
Fulica atra
General plumage a dark grey, almost sooty, but which in the
sunlight shows a delicate, almost lilac sheen; head black; and the
neck graduates from black into the general grey of body; beak,
white with a tinge of warm colour in it; the frontal shield is pure
ivory white; legs, greenish-grey; eyes, reddish-brown. Length, 16
inches.
This is a common bird, and though nearly all migrate, I believe a few
remain to breed in exceptionally favourable places, as I have heard that
it has been observed throughout the summer months on certain waters.
It is the same bird we get in Britain, and behaves in identically the
same way. On preserved waters, as for instance the Sacred Lake at
Karnak, where every one may see it, it is, as it is at home, very tame,
and rarely takes wing more than from one side to the other of the lake,
and if you move quietly, or remain sitting for any length of time, they
allow of a very near approach, and come swimming quite close up.
Sometimes I have had them walk on to the bank within a few yards of me
and start to preen their feathers. If at such a time the sun is shining
brightly on them, this bird, which is generally described as being
"black with a white bill," is seen to be a most delightful, almost
dove-like coloured creature with jet black glossy head, and the neck
with a blue or purple sheen. It is sociable, and though sometimes it has
some small squabble with a neighbour, it is in the main seemingly a
cheery, good-tempered bird. Although it is not often seen to fly far, it
can and does fly enormous distances and at a very great pace. The Coot
does not belong to the Duck tribe; it has not true webbed feet, but the
web follows the line of the toes on each side. Sometimes it goes in very
large flocks, running into thousands, and I have heard of large bags
being made; but it seems rather a useless performance, as it is not a
good bird for the table by any means, being very fishy flavoured, so
fishy that it used to be allowed to be eaten as "fish" on holy days in
French convents and monasteries. Its food seems to consist principally
of aquatic weeds and grasses, and small fish and water creatures, and
when it comes on shore it searches for insects and small slugs and
snails, as it grazes goose-like on the young tender blades of grass.
The nest and eggs of the Coot are very like those of the common
Moorhen.
THE EGYPTIAN GOOSE
Chenalopex aegyptiacus
Centre of head light brown; upper part of throat and cheeks white,
shading into brown; forehead, round the eye, and neck, a chestnut
bright brown; upper parts of back, chest, and flanks, reddish buff,
with dusky bars; large wing-feathers black; a metallic green bar
crosses wing; lower half of back and tail black; a deep chocolate
patch on centre of breast; centre of abdomen white; under-tail
coverts buff; legs, dark pink; beak, dull flesh colour; eyes brown.
Total length, 26 inches.
The Egyptian Goose is a handsomely coloured bird, and when seen sunning
itself on some sandbank it makes a brilliant picture. It is a real
native of the Nile, and breeds in the early spring--March and April; and
sportsmen's records tell of its being a quite shootable bird in the
first weeks of May. In 1907, only a quarter of a mile from the busiest
part of Luxor, there might have been seen daily a charming little
flotilla of the parents and four young ones swimming about round the
promontory of land that there juts out. They had nested in the
cultivation that at that point comes down to the very water's edge. This
is the ideal position they love, as they can, on the approach of danger,
slip at once into the water, where they are
[Illustration: EGYPTIAN GEESE]
comparatively safe. Many, who may not see this bird on the river,
have probably often seen it at home, as it is frequently kept with other
water-fowl on the ornamental waters of our parks. It is not a lively
bird, and seems to spend a large part of the day standing in a
hunched-up attitude on some sandbank, well in the middle of the stream,
from which position it can see the approach of any enemy. In captivity
it is rather morose, and fierce with any smaller fowl it can safely
bully. It lives on all sorts of water-insects and weeds, and makes
excursions at night-time to the fields and cultivated grounds for grass
and corn.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.]
Probably no single work of art in all Egypt has been more widely copied
than the picture of geese which is now in the Museum at Cairo. It came
from the tomb of Ne fer ma[=a]t at Mêdûm, and is universally known as
"the oldest picture in the world," for it is ascribed to the earliest
dynasty, and approximately about 4400 B.C. To a naturalist it is
peculiarly interesting, but the interest is linked with sadness, as the
subject of the picture being entirely of bird-life, one would have
thought that bird-life would be a subject of continued interest; but the
reverse is very much the case, so much so, that though this very picture
is known to thousands who have never been to Egypt, and many thousands
more who have been to Egypt and gone to see this very picture, and
bought photographs or copies of it, few or any have really interest
enough in it even to learn or inquire what are the names of the geese
depicted. In the very rough little sketch on p. 175 the two geese at the
extreme right and left are Bean Geese, birds that one might expect the
old-time artist to be familiar with, and the same is true of the two
geese in the left-hand group, which are White-fronted Geese, as both are
winter migrants to Egypt, remaining till March. Of the two remaining
birds, from their markings the naturalist will have no doubt but that
they are Red-breasted Geese; and there is a mystery, as they never come
to Egypt, and being a northern bird, one is utterly at a loss to explain
why the artist of that long-distant date should depict that special
Goose. That he did see the bird, and with fidelity drew it, are facts,
and one can only conclude that zoological collections are no new thing,
but that men, nearly six thousand years ago, must have kept rare birds
in captivity for the pleasure of their beauty, and that artists went to
their zoological gardens or collections, and drew pictures of the
inhabitants of far-distant climes for the walls of their temples or
tombs. As a realistic study of bird-life this little picture is
admirable, the set of the head and peculiar curve of the Feeding Geese
is singularly true, whilst the whole is carried through in a broad
decorative spirit. It is curious that in a country where the earliest
art took subjects from Nature, there should now be such absolute apathy
that in many cases the people have no separate names for the birds
around them. Egypt has other geese that visit it, but none others native
to it. The White-fronted Goose is said to be the most abundant of all,
the Brent Goose and the Bean Goose, all three visiting the Nile and
Delta in the winter months.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.]
PINTAIL-DUCK
Dafila acuta
Plumage of back and flanks grey; the large scapulars are
long-pointed and edged with buff; brilliant metallic green bar on
wing; head brown; neck and under-parts white; the tail long, and
two centre feathers very narrow and longer than the rest; beak
slate-grey; legs black; eyes brown. The female is a plain, mottled
brown bird, tail pointed but not so long as the drake. Entire
length, 23 inches.