Nawa'em (Mekniraat)

The Nawa'em (Mekniraat) — a foundation house of the Egyptian Ghuzar, and what the author calls "the fruit of the Egyptian Ghuzar". As the name says, these are beautiful, fine-featured birds; most keepers love them and some keep nothing else. The house divides into foundation strains — the Rihani and the Asfar — and derived (crossed) ones: the Azraq Qateefa, the Khawanki and the Kazaghandi. More points of standard are disputed here than in any other house, and the author traces that to three causes: the hobby was handed down orally with nothing written; some keepers take their own teacher's word as beyond question; and a few with a name in the hobby promote the faults of their own birds as the correct standard, either to sell them dearer or so that no one says their stock falls short. The house is named for its beak: mekneer, likened to a canary's bill.