194 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



birds from Buhoma. They were stated to have been taken 

 about the 2nd of June. 



Eleven out of the sixteen skins brought home by us were 

 females. They are gayer than the males, but the males 

 have a more handsomely mottled wing. In Savigny's book 

 there is a good picture of a male with its wings spread to 

 show the spotting. 



148. Ruff, Machetes pngnax (Linn.). 



We did not get the Ruff in the Delta; indeed it was not 

 until we got to Siout that one was shot, out of a small flock, 

 on the Bar-Joseph. In April, when we were higher up the 

 Nile, some very large flocks were seen upon migration — in 

 particular one flock upon the sand-banks at Erment. Several 

 times also these birds were seen in fields. Some of the 

 males which we shot were changing colour, but I never 

 could distinguish any with a symptom of a rufi" even in the 

 largest flock. They evidently throw it out with great 

 rapidity. According to Montagu it is scarcely completed 

 in May (Ornith. Diet. SuppL). At the Faioum in June I 

 saw some flocks of Reeves, but whether they breed in 

 Egypt is not at present ascertained, 



149. Curlew, Nuvienins arquatns (Linn.). 



None were shot, though they were frequently seen. The 

 birdstufifer at Alexandria, however, had a specimen. 



150. Slender-billed Curlew, Numenius temiirostris, 



Vieill. 



I include this with some hesitation, as no specimen was 

 shot, though I believe some were seen both in the Delta 

 and in Upper Egypt. 



