Abstract
IN Mr. Loftie's “Ride in Egypt” is a woodcut (p. 209) of what is called “the oldest picture in the world,” a fresco from a tomb at Maydoom, now in the museum at Boolak, wherein are represented six “pasturing geese.” Two of these are undoubtedly Anser albifrons, two, probably A. ferus or A. segetum, and the other two seem to be the rare A. ruficollis, from Northern Asia. I should be greatly obliged to any one who would let me see a coloured copy of this picture, that I might be assured as to my determination of the figures. Mr. Dresser, in his excellent “Birds of Europe,” mentions his having received a specimen of A. ruficollis sent him from Alexandria by the late Mr. Stafford Allen. Otherwise its appearance in Egypt seems to have been hitherto unrecorded.
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NEWTON, A. “The Oldest Picture in the World”. Nature 23, 555 (1881). https://doi.org/10.1038/023555c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/023555c0
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