28 Dr. A. L. Adams on the Birds of Egypt and Nubia. 



young of the Domestic Fowl. The rudimentary state of the 

 wings, and bulging of the abdomen at the vent, are in favour 

 of its being at least the young of some species. Fowls, how- 

 ever, do not apjDcar on the monuments of Egypt, perhaps for 

 the reason assigned by Sir Gardner Wilkinson, that they were 

 in universal use as an article of food . 



Ammoperdix heyii (Temm.). 



This species is closely allied to A. bonhamii of Afghanistan 

 and the north-western Punjaub *. It has likewise a marked 

 resemblance to that bird in habits, frequenting bare rocky ra- 

 vines and low hills ; it runs at great speed, and flies strongly, 

 uttering a loud clear whistle. When alarmed, they disperse 

 over the country, and secrete themselves under rocks and fallen 

 boulders. A female measured 10 inches in length. The flesh 

 is pale and tender, but wanting in flavour. The iris is true 

 brown ; bill orange, and legs yellow. It is evid,ently partial to 

 localities; in Nubia I met with small coveys among the rocky 

 parts at Dendor. The traveller Burckhardt mentions a " small 

 species of Partridge with red legs " which he killed occasionally 

 in Nubia f. 



COTURNIX DACTYLISONANS. 



Is distributed over Egypt and cultivated parts of Nubia, as- 

 sembling in the wheat-fields in February and March, before its 

 migration northwards across the Mediterranean, which takes 

 place during the middle and latter part of April. It appears 

 among many votives to the gods, and in the bird-catching 

 scenes on the tombs, &c. ; it was not sacred, and does not appear 

 to have been found embalmed, possibly for the same reason as 

 the Domestic Fowl. 



CEdicnemus crepitans. 



Is not uncommon, singly or in flocks, on the stony and desert 

 tracts of Nubia and Egypt. 

 Cursorius europ^us. 

 Was seen several times, and always in small flocks, at different 



* Vide Gould's ' Biids of Asia,' and Author's list, Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 1858, p. 503. 

 t ' Travels in Nubia.' 



