170 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



104. Black-headed Yellow Wagtail, Budytes 

 melanocephala, Savi. 



Of this trio of Wagtails the Black-headed was the com- 

 monest in Upper Egypt, but we never saw it in the Delta. 

 Some of the old males were magnificent. I have found it 

 to consort with B.flava (with the eye stripe). I have seen 

 both sorts running in and out among the goats, and picking 

 up the insects behind them, and have killed them both at 

 one shot. They are very fond of cattle, particularly on a 

 field of grass, which is rather a rare thing in Egypt. 

 Splendid old cocks were sometimes to be seen by melon 

 fields, poppy fields, and corn fields, the contrast of black 

 and yellow glistening as they ran about among the herbage, 

 but without wagging their tails so much as English Wag- 

 tails would have done ; or feeding in a wet ploughed field 

 where it is amazing how they can be a minute without get- 

 ting muddy. Where the river's edge was sand or mud I 

 seldom saw them, and I never detected one perching in a 

 tree. When we came upon a flock I considered that they 

 were migrating. If there were forty or fifty birds, the num- 

 ber of males would not exceed ten. 



105. Chaffinch, Fringilla ccekbs, Linn. 



Three or four times I met with small flocks on the trees, 

 in the Delta, clad in the same suit which we know them in 

 at home. 



106. Common Sparrow, Passer domesticus (L.) ; 

 "Asfur dururi." 



Egyptian Sparrows are certainly less obtrusive than Eng- 

 lish ones, but they show the same dependance on man, and 



