The number of birds in Abyssinia exceeds that of other animals beyond proportion. The high and low countries are equally stored with them, the first kind are the carnivorous birds. Many species of the eagle and hawk, many more still of the vulture kind, as it were overstock all parts of this country. That species of glede called Haddaya, so frequent in Egypt, comes very punctually into Ethiopia, at the return of the sun, after the tropical rains. The quantity of shell-fish which then covers the edges of the desert, and leaves the salt springs where they have been nourished, surprised by the heat, and deserted by the moisture, are the first food these birds find in their way. They then are supplied in the neighbouring Kolla, by the carcases of those large beasts, the elephant, rhinoceros, and giraffa, the whole tribe of the deer kind, and the wild asses that are slain by the hunters, part of which only are used in food.

The vast quantity of field-rats and mice that appear after harvest, and swarm in the cracks, or fissures in the ground, are their next supply. But above all, the great slaughter made of cattle upon the march of the army, the beasts of burden which die under carriage and ill treatment, the number of men that perish by disease and by the sword, whose carcases are never buried by this barbarous and unclean people, compose such a quantity, and variety of carrion, that it brings together at one time a multitude of birds of prey, it would seem there was not such a number in the whole earth. These follow the camp, and abide by it; indeed, they seem another camp round it, for, besides those that ventured among the tents, I have seen the fields covered on every side as far as the eyes could reach, and the branches of the trees, ready to break under the pressure of their weight.

This unclean multitude remain together in perfect peace till the rains become constant and heavy; which deprive them of their food by forcing the hunters and armies to retire home. Nor are other circumstances wanting equally obvious, which account for the great number of birds that live on insects. The fly, of which we have already spoken so often, reigns in great swarms from May to September on the plains, and in all the low country down to the sands of Atbara. These are attended by a multitude of enemies, some of whom seek them for food; others seem to persecute them from hatred, or for sport, from the multitude they scatter upon the ground, without further care concerning them. Honey is the principal food of all ranks of people in Abyssinia, and consequently a multitude of bees are produced everywhere. Part of these are kept in large cages, or baskets, hung upon the trees; others attach themselves to the branches, others build nests in the soft wood of the trees, especially the Bohabab, whose large and fragrant flower furnishes them with a honey which it strongly perfumes. The honey generally borrows its colour from the flowers and herbs from whence it is gathered. At Dixan we were surprised to see the honey red like blood, and nothing can have an appearance more disgusting than this, when mixed with melted butter. There are bees which build in the earth, whose honey is nearly black, as has been observed by the jesuit Jerome Lobo, I willingly place this truth to his credit, the only one, I think, I can find in his natural history, a small atonement for the multitude of falsehoods this vain and idle romancer has told on every occasion. Nor are the granivorous birds fewer in number or worse provided for; all the trees and shrubs in Abyssinia bear flowers, and consequently seeds, berries, or fruit, of some kind or other; food for all or some particular species of birds. Every tree and bush carries these likewise in all stages of ripeness, in all seasons of the year.

This is, however, not to be understood as meaning that any tree produces in the same part, fruit or flowers more than once a-year; but the time of each part’s bearing is very particularly distributed. The west side of every tree is the first that blossoms, there its fruit proceeds in all stages of ripeness till it falls to the ground. It is succeeded by the south, which undergoes the same process. From this it crosses the tree, and the north is next in fruit; last of all comes the east, which produces flowers and fruit till the beginning of the rainy season. In the end of April new leaves push off the old ones without leaving the tree at any time bare, so that every tree in Abyssinia appears to be an evergreen. The last I saw in flower was the coffee-tree at Emfras the 20th of April 1770: from this time till the rains begin, and all the season of them, the trees get fully into leaf, and the harvest, which is generally in these months throughout Abyssinia, supplies the deficiency of the seed upon bushes and trees. All the leaves of the trees in Abyssinia are very highly varnished, and of a tough leather like texture, which enables them to support the constant and violent rains under which they are produced.

This provision made for granivorous birds, in itself so ample, is doubled by another extraordinary regulation. The country being divided by a ridge of mountains, a line drawn along the top of these divides the seasons likewise; so that those birds to whom any one food is necessary become birds of passage, and, by a short migration, find the same seasons, and the same food, on the one side, which the rains and change of weather had deprived them of on the other.

There is no great plenty of water-fowl in Abyssinia, especially of the web-footed kind. I never remember to have seen one of these that are not common in most parts of Europe. Vast variety of storks cover the plains in May, when the rains become constant. The large indigenous birds that reside constantly on the high mountains of Samen and Taranta, have most of them an extraordinary provision made against the wet and the weather; each feather is a tube, from the pores of which issue a very fine dust or powder, in such abundance as to stain the hand upon grasping them. This I shall presently mention in the description of one of these birds, the golden eagle of Lamalmon. In looking at this dust through a very strong magnifying power, I thought I discerned it to be in form of a number of fine feathers.

Though all the deep and grassy bogs have snipes in them, I never once saw a woodcock: swallows there are of many kinds, unknown in Europe; those that are common in Europe appear in passage at the very season when they take their flight from thence. We saw the greatest part of them in the island of Masuah where they lighted and tarried two days, and then proceeded with moon-light nights to the south-west. But I once saw in the country of the Baharnagash, in the province of TigrÉ, the blue forked-tailed swallow, which builds in the windows in England, making his nest out of season, when he should have been upon his migration; this I have already taken notice of in my journey from Masuah to Gondar.

There are few owls in Abyssinia; but those are of an immense size and beauty. The crow is marked white and black nearly in equal portions. There is one kind of raven; he, too, of a large size, his feathers black intermixed with brown; his beak tipt with white, and a figure like a cup or chalice of white feathers on his occiput, or hinder part of his head. I never saw either sparrow, magpie, or bat in Abyssinia. Pigeons are there in great numbers, and of many varieties; some of them very excellent for eating. I shall hereafter describe one of them whose name is Waalia. All the pigeons but one sort are birds of passage, that one lives in the eaves of houses or holes in the walls, and this is not eaten, but accounted unclean for a very whimsical reason; they say it has claws like a falcon, and is a mixture from that bird. The same sort of imagination is that of the Turks, who say, that the Turkey, from the tuft of black hair that is upon his breast, partakes of the nature of the hog. This pigeon’s feet are indeed large, but very different in formation from that of the falcon.

There are no geese in Abyssinia, wild or tame, excepting what is called the Golden Goose, Goose of the Nile, or Goose of the Cape, common in all the South of Africa: these build their nests upon trees, and when not in water, generally sit upon them.

I have already spoken of fishes, and have entered very sparingly into their history. These, and other marine productions of the Arabian Gulf, or even the small share that I have painted and collected, would occupy many large volumes to exhibit and describe, and would cost, in the engraving, a much larger sum than I have any prospect of ever being able to afford.