E G Y P T I A N
B I R D S

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

class="r">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

href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@46825@[email protected]#ill_016" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">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

tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">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.

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.