SIX months' bird collecting in EGYPT. 1 59 



66. Menetries' Wheatear, Saxicola isahdlina (Rupp.) ; 

 ■5". saltatrix, Menetr. 



Their flight and appearance is so far different from 

 5. cenantJie (the Common Wheatear) that one soon learns to 

 distinguish them at a distance. From the Pyramids south- 

 wards Menetries' Wheatear is common, but neither this nor 

 any other Chat was seen by us in the Delta. 



67. Common Wheatear, Saxicola ainanthe (Linn.). 



I think this is about the commonest of the Chats. A 

 cock, shot on the 8th of March, had nearly completed its 

 summer plumage on the back and wings. 



6"^. Desert Chat, Saxicola deserti (Rupp.). 



Rather common after Girgeh. Several hens were seen, 

 5". JioinocJiroa, Tristram. These Chats can hardly be 

 termed gregarious, as they are frequently seen alone, or with 

 6". ce/ianthc and S. viclaiiolcuca. A little bush, high enough 

 to raise them a few feet above the plain, is always a favourite 

 perch, or the banks of a field, or the mud walls of a garden, 

 or in default of these a stone. They occasionally fly high, 

 but seldom go far without alighting. 



On placing my series of five skins in a row with five 

 which I shot in Algeria, I take note that the latter are 

 several shades more rufous on the back, a point which 

 appears to have escaped Mr. Dresser. 



69. Mourning Chat, Saxicola leucomcla (Pall.). 



First seen at the Pyramids, and next at Massara. 

 Probably to be found along the east bank as far as Minieh ; 

 but we did not generally go on that side, as there were so 



