File:Egyptian birds - for the most part seen in the Nile Valley (1909) (14769813893).jpg

Identifier: egyptianbirdsfor00whymuoft (find matches)
Title: Egyptian birds : for the most part seen in the Nile Valley
Year: 1909 (1900s)
Authors: Whymper, Charles, 1853-
Subjects: Birds -- Egypt
Publisher: London : A. and C. Black
Contributing Library: Gerstein - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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advantageof the fact. They will cluster by the dozen onyour face, walk in brigades over the ridge ofyour nose, sting you on the hand, at the backwhere your palette hides them from your view,and even if you have a boy with a fly-wisp theywill never leave you. I have found them at theirworst at the edges of the cultivated land, wheretrees are often growing picturesquely, temptingthe artist to sit in their seductive shade; withmost dire results, as one is almost eaten alive, andone envies the cattle who are being so assiduouslyattended to by these kindly fly-catchers. The Egret is one of the many birds that thedragoman makes the tourist happy by calling theIbis, and the number that return to their friendsgleefully telling how they saw a flock of Ibisesgrows every season. In the article on the Ibis itis shown how ludicrously untrustworthy is thedragomans Natural History information. The Buff-backed Heron may often be seenflying up or down the river in little parties of BUFF-BACKED HERON I
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BUFF-BACKED HERON 157 five or six. They look snow-white, and are thenhard to tell from Spoonbill or Egret; but theyouffht not to be mistaken for the first-namedbird, for, being Herons, they fly as all Herons do,with head tucked in, whilst the Spoonbill flieswith extended neck. This is a real resident bird.Captain Shelley says it breeds in August in largecolonies in the sont trees, and that, in addition tobeing useful to the poor cattle, it is of the greatestuse to Egypt, as it wages war on the locusts thatwould otherwise devastate the green crops and allgrowing things. I regret, however, that every year, according tothe best evidence, this bird is less and less seen.Twenty-five years ago it was to be met with, offand on, everywhere, and in the Delta it wasabsolutely one of the commonest of birds. Thecause of its lessening numbers is not certain, butwhen it is recalled that it is a form of Egret, andthat from Egrets come aigrettes, one solutionis apparent. Against that view, however, i

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