. Egyptian birds : for the most part seen in the Nile Valley . e loud cry or stone slung by therajxiied urchin of a bird scarer. I remember wellLeightons picture of a bird scarer, showing anathletic young fellow, stripped to the waist, poisedon one foot, body bent back, hurling the stone asDavid did at Goliath. But in the years I haveknown Egypt I have never seen in real life any-thing approaching that picture, for it is generally ablear-eyed small boy, half-clothed and hideouslydirty, who, standing on the pathway, yells dis-cordantly and purposely just as you pass him,sometimes accompanying t
. Egyptian birds : for the most part seen in the Nile Valley . e loud cry or stone slung by therajxiied urchin of a bird scarer. I remember wellLeightons picture of a bird scarer, showing anathletic young fellow, stripped to the waist, poisedon one foot, body bent back, hurling the stone asDavid did at Goliath. But in the years I haveknown Egypt I have never seen in real life any-thing approaching that picture, for it is generally ablear-eyed small boy, half-clothed and hideouslydirty, who, standing on the pathway, yells dis-cordantly and purposely just as you pass him,sometimes accompanying the cry with a mild littlejerky underhand throw of some clot of hardenedsoil which possibly breaks in mid-air before reach-ing the birds. So no lives are lost, and the birdsjust fly away contemptuously to another part ofthe field. In Nubia it is different, and there girlsas well as boys do really sling stones, and with someeffect. I do not think there is any peculiarityof the life-history of the Sparrow in Egypt that is SPARROWIn the Temple at ir- THE SPARROW 8S not equally noticeable wherever it is met with,but whereas at home it becomes almost a pest fromits numbers, here it is not so noticeable, and itsjaunty, sprightly air and carriage are often inagreeable contrast to the depressing squalor andmonochrome, dismal surroundings. So here it getsblessings and not cursings poured on its head, andno one calls it Avian Rat, or any other rudename. 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 thepictures of which it can honestly say it has beenfamiliar with from earliest childhood. One cannothelp but speculating, does the Sparrow recognizein the painting its arch-enemy, for the picturedHawk shown may well, as far as form is concerned,be meant for a Sparrow Hawk ; which Hawk, trueto its name, takes daily toll of all small birds and ofSparrows in particular. I remember well one
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidegyptianbirdsfor00whymuof
