The Egypt River is a stream

Stream

A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...

 in Ipswich, Massachusetts

Ipswich, Massachusetts

Ipswich is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 12,987 at the 2000 census. Home to Willowdale State Forest and Sandy Point State Reservation, Ipswich includes the southern part of Plum Island...

, United States.

The river is formed by the confluence of Bull and Dow brooks below their reservoirs, and in turn joins the Muddy River and then the Rowley River

Rowley River

The Rowley River is a small river between Ipswich and Rowley, Massachusetts.The river lies within in the estuary of Plum Island Sound, and is formed by the confluence of the Egypt River and Muddy Run in Ipswich, with numerous tributaries in the estuary...

, which empties into the Plum Island Sound. The Rowley River runs through salt marshes, in which it forms a narrow and winding inlet about 5.5 miles (8.9 km) in total length.

The name Egypt River is recorded as early as 1635. In early colonial times, it was also termed the North River. It was then a source of herring

Herring

Herring is an oily fish of the genus Clupea, found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Three species of Clupea are recognized. The main taxa, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring may each be divided into subspecies...

 and smelt, but few have been observed since the 1970s.