Part 5

Top of head a bluish-grey, margined with deep chestnut band over the eye and ear-coverts; black chin and collar; a white spot behind the eye; under-parts a silvery grey; wing chestnut with black spots, with a white bar across it; tail-feathers brown with lighter edges; eyes hazel; legs and beak pale brown. Entire length, 5·5 inches.

Mr. M. J. Nicoll thinks that the Egyptian Sparrow is a separate local variety, being always lighter and brighter coloured on the back. Sparrows here, as elsewhere, distinctly follow man. Where no men are, you will find no Sparrows. Get only half a mile into the sandy plain that fringes the cultivation and you will look in vain, or go up the steep hills, and you may walk for miles and miles and never see one. But if you come across some of the old-time caravan roads, or a place where there has been an encampment, then, however wild the surroundings and otherwise far away from civilized life, you will very likely find a Sparrow or two looking after some of the droppings from the nose-bags.

In winter they get spread about and are not very noticeable, but when the corn ripens then they all seem to multiply in extraordinary fashion. Clouds of them rise up and fly round, startled by the loud cry or stone slung by the ragged urchin of a bird scarer. I remember well Leighton's picture of a bird scarer, showing an athletic young fellow, stripped to the waist, poised on one foot, body bent back, hurling the stone as David did at Goliath. But in the years I have known Egypt I have never seen in real life anything approaching that picture, for it is generally a blear-eyed small boy, half-clothed and hideously dirty, who, standing on the pathway, yells discordantly and purposely just as you pass him, sometimes accompanying the cry with a mild little jerky underhand throw of some clot of hardened soil which possibly breaks in mid-air before reaching the birds. So no lives are lost, and the birds just fly away contemptuously to another part of the field. In Nubia it is different, and there girls as well as boys do really sling stones, and with some effect. I do not think there is any peculiarity of the life-history of the Sparrow in Egypt that is

not equally noticeable wherever it is met with, but whereas at home it becomes almost a pest from its numbers, here it is not so noticeable, and its jaunty, sprightly air and carriage are often in agreeable contrast to the depressing squalor and monochrome, dismal surroundings. So here it gets blessings and not cursings poured on its head, and no one calls it "Avian Rat," or any other rude name. I have pictured it as I often saw it, playing in and out of the decorated temple walls, in a cleft of which possibly it was born, and the pictures of which it can honestly say it has been familiar with from earliest childhood. One cannot help but speculating, does the Sparrow recognize in the painting its arch-enemy, for the pictured Hawk shown may well, as far as form is concerned, be meant for a Sparrow Hawk; which Hawk, true to its name, takes daily toll of all small birds and of Sparrows in particular. I remember well one day at the Ramaseum where I was painting--the quick passing shadow and the instant silencing of the cheery chattering of a host of Sparrows that were all sitting on a small bush just near me, and looking up, I saw a Sparrow Hawk dash away with a Sparrow in its talons, whilst the others were flying precipitately away in all directions. The Sparrow is an omnivorous feeder here, in Egypt, as it is at home, where nothing that grows comes amiss to it, not even the early crocuses of our gardens.

THE DESERT BULLFINCH OR TRUMPETER FINCH

Erythrospiza githaginea

General Plumage--Sandy-grey, darker on wings, the larger feathers of which are edged with bright pink; rump and upper tail-coverts bright pink, under-parts all creamy pink with the ends of the feathers carmine, beak large and bright red, legs pinkish flesh-colour, eyes brown. Total length, 5 inches.

The above description, as are all these descriptions, is of the adult male bird in full plumage, but the reader must remember that this full, brilliant plumage is generally worn only during the spring months, and that if any bird is observed in November or December, it naturally will not be then wearing its wedding-garment. This is especially true of the present species; in the winter months it is a quiet-coloured little bird, hardly to be noticed as it hops about on the cleared ground, to which its colour is very similar, its red beak alone showing brightly; and it is only in January that it begins to show any alteration, and not till the end of February does it look the brilliant pink bird described above; then it is almost impossible to over-describe its beauties, and one is in some danger of over-painting it. Shelley says that the young have the bill pale yellowish-brown, but I have seen little flocks together, which I take were families, in November, and every member of the party had brilliant red beaks, though otherwise they were all dull sandy colour. This bird has a peculiar song or call-note that is absurdly like that of a little tin trumpet, and this call it continually utters, especially as it flits about, so that it can thus often be identified even when too distant to be accurately seen. It is really a very common bird, but on account of its inconspicuous winter plumage, is not always noticed. In December 1908, in walking across the cultivated Thebes valley up to the Tombs of the Kings, I must have seen many hundreds in those few miles, and when I did not see them I could frequently hear them. Most people really do not give themselves much chance of seeing any of the details of bird-life, as they go everywhere on donkey back, with chattering, ill-behaved boys as retinue, and though the birds are tame, they naturally fly away at the approach of these noisy cavalcades.

But if only people would walk--and I can see no earthly reason why they shouldn't, they probably would at home--they would see such a wealth of charming pictures of bird-life that they would be well rewarded. As it is I have sometimes asked friends if they had noticed the extraordinary number of Wagtails, or whatever bird was passing by on its migration at the time, and have been astonished to find they had seen none, when sometimes the ground has been literally covered with them. But no, they go clanging and jolting along, and I suppose do really see nothing.

At Assuan among the sand and rocks I have seen quite wonderfully brilliant male birds sitting singing something almost worthy to be called a song,--the ordinary sound is this rather monotonous single note-call. Its food is distinctly hard food, as we say of a cage-bird, and it spares no growing crop--maize, grass, mustard, corn, all come alike to it--but with this bird, as with many others, one does wonder how they support existence in the arid, plantless deserts, for you see them quite commonly there, as well as on cultivated ground. I have seen them in English bird-fanciers' shops, but have no knowledge as to whether they are good cage-birds; the one thing, however, which might make them such is of course in their love of hard grain food, and if they can be kept in health, they would certainly be most engaging pets, as they are very lively in their movements, and always seem to be bright and cheery.

HOODED CROW

Corvus cornix

Head, throat, wings, tail, beak, and legs black, with a gloss of purple or green on most of the feathers; remainder of plumage grey, eyes dark-brown. Total length, 18 inches.

A very common bird throughout Egypt. It seems strange that this should be the only Crow--the pure black one has never been noticed--and if any black crow-like bird is noticed it will probably be found to be the Raven. Shelley says, "It begins breeding towards the end of February, when its nest may be procured in every clump of sont trees,"[4] but I have seen young ones with their parents flying about in early February, which would mean they must have been hatched much earlier, and it would therefore seem certain that they rear two broods in the year. It does not seem here to have quite the same character that it has elsewhere--it is less aggressive, tamer, not such a highwayman-robber sort of bird--and though it is so common I cannot ever remember to have seen a flock of them together in the real open country, they seem to go in pairs generally; but in towns and such places as the Zoological Gardens of Cairo they do foregather in large numbers. Its food is generally carrion, but it will take any living thing--lizards, mice, and even beetles--that comes in its way, and I have no doubt rob the nests of small birds, not only of eggs but also of the unfledged young. It is distinctly a handsome bird and it walks well, holding its head high, whilst its flight is strong and easy.

[4] The term "sont trees" in Egypt is applied to acacia trees.

It was entirely owing to a certain Crow, we are told, that Cairo got its name, for it seems that when the architect was planning out the city, he arranged that the first stone of the great surrounding wall should be laid at a particular moment dictated by the astrologers. This moment was to be made known to the architect by the pulling of a cord extending from where he was to the place where the astrologers were assembled. The momentous day arrived, the architect awaited the signal, and suddenly the cord was shaken, and the stone was laid. But a horrid mistake had been made. The astrologers had not pulled the cord; a wretched old Crow had heavily perched upon it, and shaken by his weight, the unlucky signal was given! From the vexation caused by this incident

the city was called Kahira[5] (the "vexatious" or "unlucky"). Kahira softened, soon became Cairo.

[5] Curzon's _Monasteries of the Levant_.

The Raven, as already stated, is to be seen from time to time, and especially where the cliffs come down close to the river. It is so similar to the ordinary Raven that it is only after the feathers of the head and neck have been worn for some time that the brown look appears which has given rise to the specific name of the Brown-necked Raven. Shelley says it nests in date-palm trees, but the only nests I myself have seen have been in the lofty cliffs of Deir-el-Bahari and Abu Fêada, and again in some of the ruins of temples, at Karnak for instance. There is, further, one more Raven, the Abyssinian, which is smaller by some three inches than the Brown-necked, but it is very similar in all other respects.

EGYPTIAN TURTLE-DOVE OR PALM DOVE

Turtur senegalensis

General plumage a dull pinky light brown, brighter on head and breast, which gradually shades off into white under the tail; wings, warm tones of dull umber brown, which colour also is on the tail coverts and two central tail feathers; the rest of the tail is blue-grey with broad white tips, a part of the wing coverts a bright blue-grey; it has a not very pronounced collar of black and bright golden brown feathers on the sides and front of neck, eyes crimson, legs and feet pink. Total length, 11 inches.

The Doves have all had a sort of saintly character thrust on them, which they hardly deserve, as they are about the most pugnacious of birds, which is hardly a saintly qualification! It is true a pair of Doves by themselves, kept in semi-domestication, do show a sort of maudlin affection, but many of the smaller birds--Wrens, Tits, Warblers, and Swallows, and many others--all show equal, if not greater true affection to each other and absolute self-abnegation in their untiring devotion to their offspring. Why, therefore, the Dove has been peculiarly ticketed as

a model of connubial affection I really do not know, but it has, and I suppose it will be treated as a sort of sacred symbol to the end of time.

This particular Egyptian Turtle-dove is also sometimes called the Palm-dove; a good name, as it is always to be found wherever there are palm trees; on them it roosts and in their branches it nests. When flying it opens its tail wide, and then shows the broad white and lilac-grey of those side feathers which when sitting are all hidden away under the two central dull brown tail feathers. Its flight through and among trees is very rapid and tortuous, and it is perhaps when in the dense clump of palm trees that it is most interesting, as it is so tame that it allows of a close approach. In any of the palm groves, and palms are everywhere in Egypt, the bird lover will be able to learn something of this very Oriental Dove. The first thing he will note is that clearly some of the many that are flying here and there, and feeding on the ground around him, are quite young birds, even though it may be December or January, and it is certain that this true inhabitant of warm sunny Egypt has two broods at least in the year.

SENEGAL SAND-GROUSE

Pterocles senegallus

Arabic, _Gutta_

Back and general tone of feathers sandy, top of head and breast a delicate pinkish-lilac, cheeks and throat a strong brilliant orange-yellow, wings spotted with chocolate-brown markings, legs feathered, centre of chest and stomach dark dull brown, two centre tail-feathers elongated, black at points, barred at base. The female is not nearly so brightly marked, indeed, is mainly sand-coloured; eyes brown, beak dull grey. Total length, 12 inches.

There are three different varieties of Sand-grouse in Egypt--the Singed, the Coroneted, and the Senegal. The last has been selected as it is the one with which I am best acquainted, but either of the others have an equal claim, since, though occupying different localities, they are to be met with throughout the area covered by this book. All the Sand-grouse are very similar in their habits, they are all children of the desert, but come down, either to feed or to water, to the cultivated ground at morning and evening. Captain Shelley gives absolute localities where they might be found (he was writing in 1872), and ever since he gave

that information there has been each winter a regular invasion of British and other ardent sportsmen, to each of the places named, to have "a little Sand-grouse shooting." Result: at those places there are now none whatever, and no one living there seems to know anything more about Sand-grouse than that annually large numbers of men come with shooting equipment ready to make record bags, and go away without firing a shot. This being so, the present author thinks it best not to give localities, for though there is no danger of Sand-grouse ever being exterminated, as if persecuted they have the whole of these great African deserts to fall back and back upon, yet the hunger of the modern man to go out and kill something bearing the least resemblance to a game-bird is such, that if it were told that at certain places near the river they could be got, in a single season or two that place would be absolutely cleared. It seems rather churlish perhaps, but this book is not written to aid men to shoot Egyptian birds, but simply to recognise the birds seen; and the first essential is that there should be birds to see. Sand-grouse seem to be pleasant sociable birds, happy in their family life; at the non-breeding season they foregather into large companies, in which order they fly great distances to and fro to whatever pools or water they customarily visit each evening, and it is at these places that the most deadly shooting can take place, for they are very regular in their "flighting." Captain Tindall Lucas tells me that the Coroneted Sand-grouse drinks later in the evening and earlier in the morning than the other forms and practically when all light has gone; the more usual time being just before the sun sets. The freedom with which they fly is extraordinary, it is more with the power of the Swallow than any game-bird; they mount very high up into the air, and go wheeling round and round, now mounting nearly out of sight, then rushing headlong down in a long swooping curve till near the earth, when, perhaps, they will turn off sharp at some angle and go tearing away in some opposite direction. This is when they are in flocks, and out on the wide open desert; when coming down to water, or near cultivation, or among the coarse Halfa grass, they fly with direct intent, and waste no time about it.

Their cry must be heard to be appreciated; it is usually written as "gutta, gutta, gutta," but no description of birds' notes ever seems to be of much value; it is, however, so very individual that once heard would never be forgotten, and it has, as all Nature's notes have, an entire suitability to the surroundings, and like the boundless, yellow, dry, herbless desert it is wild and weird, yet beautiful.

I remember once a quite intelligent Scotch keeper answering an inquiry, as to what Ptarmigan found to eat amongst the barren hilltops where they live with the amazing statement, delivered in the most solemn manner, "that they just lived on the little stones," and when doubt was thrown on his information, declared that he had often cut them open to see, and had never found anything in their crops "but just the wee stones." And the inquiry might well be made as to the source of food of the Sand-grouse when one sees a large flock in the desert places that they love to be in during the day, if one did not know of their wondrous powers of flight, which make nothing of flying scores of miles to the far-distant edges of cultivated ground.

I have watched Sand-grouse quite close at hand, and when on the ground they are rather dumpy-shaped and uninteresting; if disturbed, they pull themselves together a bit and run off to a short distance, and settle down again in a crouching position; if again disturbed they probably rise altogether, with their "gutta, gutta" cry and fly miles away. In running they go like clockwork mice; you hardly see their legs or feet, and they rise and fall over the varying contours of the ground just like a little running wave.

From Alexandria to Assoan and beyond right to the Soudan, Sand-grouse are to be met with, and though every one may not see this typical desert bird, it is there if only they know where to look for it.

SAND PARTRIDGE

Ammoperdix heyi

The colour of the upper plumage on body is so delicate in quality that it is hard to say if it should be called a lilac grey or pinky grey, whilst in certain lights it might be called a sandy brown; the head is, with the cheeks, neck, and breast, a pearly pink; the flanks are barred with rich chestnut and black on a warm white breast; white on the ear coverts and a white spot in front of the eye in the variety known as Cholmondely; legs yellow; eyes brown; beak a brilliant orange. The hen bird is without the bright chestnut bars on the flanks, and is altogether a paler-coloured greyish-buff, and without white on the face. Total length, 9 inches.

This is a resident Egyptian bird, and I include it in my list because, though the traveller up the Nile may not see it, any who go across the desert around the Pyramid district, and even those who journey only a little out of Assoan, ought quite certainly to come across it. It is a most charming, lively little bird, bustling about; you rarely see it quiet for long, even in January it still keeps in coveys, and they go running along in and out of the boulders, and, if on a hillside, they are very quick and agile in hopping high up on to the rocks above them. They very seldom fly if they can possibly get out of your way by running. I very well remember seeing them on the old-time road from Kennah to Kosseir on the Red Sea. I saw them first before reaching Wady Hammamat, and then more frequently as we passed through the ancient quarries. They seem to use this old roadway as their regular feeding-ground, for there, owing to the passage of caravans backwards and forwards, they find a perpetual source of food from the frequent droppings. Their movements were so quick and their little bodies so round and plump that, even with my glass on them, I could not settle the colour of their legs, till I got a closer inspection of those in the Cairo Zoological Gardens. As they run they utter a little cheery sort of "cheep, cheep" call, and the whole party seem always happy, if not in boisterous spirits, which, when one considers the hardness of their life in these sterile wastes, seems somewhat remarkable. Grain and seeds are their staple food, but I distinctly saw one once and again make a dart at some passing insect, and no doubt here, as at home, they love the ants' eggs that must exist, as ants are ever present with you in this hot desert country. As far as my own notes go, I do not think they ever come down even to the outskirts

of the cultivation, but keep exclusively to the sand (possibly in spring or summer they may approach nearer to the haunts of man, but I have no evidence), which makes the fact of their being, as it is alleged they are, exceedingly good eating, very remarkable, for one would be disposed to think they would be thin, tough, and tasteless. I have it on good authority, that as a game-bird for the table, they are far to be preferred to our own Partridge, being, though small, very plump and of a fine game flavour. All Partridges seem peculiar in doing well on very little--at home one often wonders during a hard winter at their surviving at all--for they are never fed like the pampered Pheasants, and not only do they survive, but they seem to carry as much flesh when shot in a hard winter as they do in September when grain lies scattered in profusion on every stubble. Although one has praised its seeming happy way of living, no account of this bird would be complete without some notice of its extraordinary pugnacity. This is confined admittedly to the males, but with them it is, as with all so-called game-birds, a ruling passion, of which our game-cocks are of course well-known examples; but it may not be so generally known that in many countries--Greece, amongst others--Partridges are kept for this special purpose of fighting for the delectation of their owners, and though I am not aware of this little sportsman, the Sand Partridge, having been kept for this purpose, I am sure if it was it would not disgrace the traditions of its family, for a more pugnacious little bird than it never walked. The males have a peculiar habit of standing ever and anon quite upright puffing out all their breast feathers, so that they display all the beauty of their rich chestnut and black-barred plumage. The naturalists have discovered that in certain districts the birds all have a white spot over the beak on the forehead, and to this variety is given the name of Cholmondely's Sand Partridge, whilst the other type, with only one white spot behind the eye on the cheeks, is known as Hey's Sand Partridge. Here, as in the case of most birds, the description of the plumage is taken from the male bird, the female nearly always being very much more sober coloured. This cannot too often be repeated, as not recognizing this fact often leads to mistake; and again, in the matter of the measurements of the birds, the size given is that of the average bird, for in almost all birds you get larger or smaller individuals, and that veteran naturalist Wallace has just lately drawn attention to the quite extraordinary variations in the different parts of the Common Redwing, showing that even in twenty birds the dimensions varied considerably.

THE QUAIL

Coturnix communis

Arabic, _Salwa_