SIX months' bird collecting in EGYPT. 1 39 



Sparrow had had quite enough of it. A few days after- 

 wards a pair had the impudence to settle on the sails.* 



I examined every specimen which was shot for the Short- 

 toed Sparrow-Hawk, but we did not detect one. 



18. Black-winged Kite, Elamis cccndeus (Desfontaines) ; 



" Sakre Abiad," i.e. White Hawk. 



These are very pretty Hawks, and fairly common. I 

 have seen them hovering over a field just like a Kestrel, but 

 a garden with good large trees is their favourite resort. 

 They are generally to be seen in pairs. They were certainly 

 commonest in Middle Egypt ; none were seen, that I know 

 of, south of Keneh. One shot on the nth of May con- 

 tained the remains of a small bird. 



19. Yellow-billed Kite, Milvus parasiticus (Daudin) ; 



" Hiddayer." 



No village in Egypt would be complete without its 

 Hiddayer. I think this Arabic name, which is in universal 

 use there, is as strong evidence as you could well have that 

 the Hebrew words ddAJi, dayydh, and ayydh, in the Old 

 Testament, should be translated Kite. In this hot and 

 sultry country, Kites perform the part of scavengers, and 

 most useful are they in clearing away the carcass and the 

 offal which the natives are too lazy to bury, and the putrid 

 stench of which would be quite sufficient to breed a pesti- 

 lence in hot weather. When the Diabeyha has been at 

 anchor, and we have been skinning, I have seen them pass 

 and repass within a few feet, attracted by the tempting 



* In Durham the Sparrow-Hawk is still common, and holds its own 

 in spite of gamekeepers. At the mouth of the River Tees, at the fall 

 of the year, I have seen many cock Sparrowhawks skimming over the 

 fields, but it was a very rare thing to observe a hen. 



