Series 03: John Brady Nash letters, January 1914-December 1915 - Page 227
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[Page 227]
or robust as a starling, coloured somewhat as is the head of gentleman blue robin, shades of blue and grey with black patch on neck, the body feathers less blue & more grey with darks, & long tail plumes less numerous and expansive than your willy wagtail which you so often watch hopping and shaking midst the lucern or upon the cows backs in your paddock, or should I write field. These pretty creatures in flocks accompanied me this morning southward o'er hill and dale, flitting from here to there, rising as my steed approach, alighting to one side, dipping beak in earth as if finding some insect fit for birds' mouth to become as tasty breakfast.
In the orchard are many insect eaters, mostly of green hued plumage, that in appropriate manner hop from branch to branch picking from stem and leaf the bonne bouche suited to the gastric secretions with which God has endowed them. A more prolonged and more careful investigation would discover many other varieties of the feathered tribe, but let this suffice.
Westward between the pyramids of Kephrhen & Cheops, saw me at Mena House steps at 8.57 o'clock ready for breakfast. Which, of porridge with salt & milk, bacon with bread, bread a little butter & apricot jam, washed down with tea, made a satisfactory meal.
Now for round the hospital. Good bye!
3 p.m. A chemist across the road has just told me an intersting fact about the birds which I referred to in the foregoing as like the blue robin and the willy wagtail:– "He is the same as our English wagtail. He is protected by law in this country, any one who might be convicted of killing or shooting one of them is liable for a fine of 100 piastres and the loss of the gun. Its food is flies and grubs of all kinds." The pharmacien is an Englishman for Herfordshire, who has lived in these parts for twelve years, he suggests by his appearance & breathing that he is here as an invalide.