Note 25 — CLEOPATRA’S NEEDLE.

It is a curious fact that the crocodile is rarely met with now, even in Upper Egypt, but requires to be sought after higher up the river—namely, in Nubia. It is said to be a timid creature, and the steam-boat and rifle have scared it from its ancient haunts. Mr. A. C. Smith, who is a zealous ornithologist, identifies the bird that ventures into the mouth of the crocodile in search of leeches—the crocodile bird—as the spur-winged plover (charadrius spinosus), the Zic-Zac of the Arabs, which has constituted itself the professional toothpicker of the crocodile.