DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11637#0219
202
TRAVELS IN UI'PER
Beside the ducks, numerous flights of which
were to be seen every moment, 1 saw this day six
pelicans flying in company, and a considerable
flock, of wild geese.
I observed that the wagtails, dispersed about
during the day, assembled together as night came
on. These assemblies, which cannot arise from
any scheme of defence, since these birds, inno-
cent and feeble, are incapable of intimidating an
enemy, ever so little dangerous, even by their
number, must be the consequence of a social in-
stinct. All those of a district, thus assembled,
fly for some time over the surface of the water,
and then settle together on one of the shores of
the river to pass the night. The flock that I saw
in the evening at KomscJierick was so numerous,
as to be several minutes in passing by the stern of
our vessel.
There* is no kind of birds more plentiful in
Egypt. I have met with them in all the cultivated
parts, near all the villages, and more particularly
in the neighbourhood of those which lie near the
banks of the Nile. At the same time there are
no birds more tame : some of them came into the
vessel's cabin, during our voyage npon the Nile,
and would feed close by our sides with engaging
security.
At
TRAVELS IN UI'PER
Beside the ducks, numerous flights of which
were to be seen every moment, 1 saw this day six
pelicans flying in company, and a considerable
flock, of wild geese.
I observed that the wagtails, dispersed about
during the day, assembled together as night came
on. These assemblies, which cannot arise from
any scheme of defence, since these birds, inno-
cent and feeble, are incapable of intimidating an
enemy, ever so little dangerous, even by their
number, must be the consequence of a social in-
stinct. All those of a district, thus assembled,
fly for some time over the surface of the water,
and then settle together on one of the shores of
the river to pass the night. The flock that I saw
in the evening at KomscJierick was so numerous,
as to be several minutes in passing by the stern of
our vessel.
There* is no kind of birds more plentiful in
Egypt. I have met with them in all the cultivated
parts, near all the villages, and more particularly
in the neighbourhood of those which lie near the
banks of the Nile. At the same time there are
no birds more tame : some of them came into the
vessel's cabin, during our voyage npon the Nile,
and would feed close by our sides with engaging
security.
At