SIX MONTHS BIRD COLLECTING IN EGYPT. 1 79 



124, Turtle Dove, Tiirtnr auritus (Linn.) 

 " Yamameh." 



First seen on the 2nd of April. By the end of the month 

 only a portion were paired. They are much wilder than 

 the other Doves. Owing to their far lighter colouring, they 

 are generally easy to be told from Ticrtiir isabcllinus at a 

 considerable distance : indeed, they are lighter than any 

 English examples I ever saw. We certainly did not find the 

 difference in time of arrival between the two nearly so great 

 as Captain Shelley did. I have notes of seeing two large 

 flocks in May — 100 or 200 in each — one at the Khedive's 

 nursery garden at Minieh, the other on a bank at Fechn 

 feeding upon the seeds of a species of thistle. 



124B. Ttirtiir isabcllinus, Bp., T. sharpii, Shelley. 



Captain Shelley says this bird arrives in the beginning of 

 February, but though a sharp look-out was kept by us, we 

 did not get any before the 26th of March, when five were shot 

 on Elephantine Island. For the next ten days it was very 

 common, and I saw some large flocks evidently migrating. 

 Then it grew scarcer, and I began to think we had reached 

 its northern limits ; but I found it again at the Faioum. 

 Here it probably nidifies among the tamarisk bushes, 

 though I often saw it out on the lake. The specimens we 

 shot at the Faioum were not so sandy-coloured, nor near so 

 bright as those we killed before. One shot on the 27th of 

 March contained a perfect e.gg ready for exclusion. 



I am informed by Captain Shelley and Mr. E. C. Taylor 

 that this species is T. isabellinus, though I should never 

 have supposed it from Bonaparte's figure, but the type has 

 been examined, and that settles the question. 



