Identifier: egyptianbirdsfor00whym (find matches)
Title: Egyptian birds for the most part seen in the Nile Valley
Year: 1909 (1900s)
Authors: Whymper, Charles, b. 1853
Subjects: Birds -- Egypt
Publisher: London, A. and C. Black
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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cheeks and throat astrong brilliant orange-yellow, wings spotted with chocolate-brown markings, legs feathered, centre of chest and stomachdark dull brown, two centre tail-feathers elongated, blackat points, barred at base. The female is not nearly sobrightly marked, indeed, is mainly sand-coloured ; eyes brown,beak dull grey. Total length, 12 inches. There are three different varieties of Sand-grousein Egypt—the Singed, the Coroneted, and theSenegal. The last has been selected as it is the onewith which I am best acquainted, but either of theothers have an equal claim, since, though occupy-ing different local ties, they are to be met withthroughout the area covered by this book. Allthe Sand-grouse are very similar in their habits,they are all children of the desert, but comedown, either to feed or to water, to the cultivatedground at morning and evening. Captain Shelleygives absolute localities where they might be found(he was writing in 1872), and ever since he gave 94 SAND-GROUSE
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SENEGAL SAND-GROUSE 95 that information there has been each winter aregular invasion of British and other ardent sports-men, to each of the places named, to have alittle Sand-grouse shooting. Result: at thoseplaces there are now none whatever, and no oneliving there seems to know anything more aboutSand-grouse than that annually large numbers ofmen come with shooting equipment ready to makerecord bags, and go away without firing a shot.This being so, the present author thinks it bestnot to give localities, for though there is nodanger of Sand-grouse ever being exterminated, asif persecuted they have the whole of these greatAfrican deserts to fall back and back upon, yet thehunger of the modern man to go out and killsomething bearing the least resemblance to a game-bird is such, that if it were told that at certainplaces near the river they could be got, in a singleseason or two that place would be absolutelycleared. It seems rather churlish perhaps, butthis book is not written to aid

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