Dr. A. L. Adams on the Birds of Egypt and Nubia. 3 



and sand-banks, offer excellent retreats for water-birds, which 

 decrease in proportion southwards. The great wave of winter 

 visitors impinges as it were on the Delta, and moves on gra- 

 dually, decreasing where local circumstances are inimical, and 

 continuing only where the advantages are great. Thus, after 

 passing the first great barrier at Asowan and proceeding south- 

 wards, we suddenly notice the absence of all the Geese, Ducks, 

 and Waders which crowd the shallows below the First Cataract. 

 A few Falcons scour the narrow strips of cultivation. The Chats 

 and Sand-larks we had to search for, in Lower Egypt, far inland, 

 are now seen hopping among the sandstone-cliffs and wastes 

 along the river's bank, whilst the Hooded Crow and other 

 familiar tenants of the north country have all but disap- 

 peared; nor do we penetrate far south before the Timaliince and 

 PycnonotincB show we are on the confines of a new ornithologi- 

 cal province, the outposts of which are at the Second Cataract. 

 But even that far south there seems little or no diminution in 

 the numbers of certain well-known European species ; for in the 

 beginning of January the Pied Wagtail was seen sporting in 

 hundreds along the banks at Wadai Halfeh, and the Chiff-chaff 

 and Lesser Whitethroat were even more plentiful than in the 

 districts we had just left. How much further south do these 

 birds penetrate before the time comes for their retrograde move- 

 ments ? 



The sycamore, acacia, palm, and tamarisk are the chief and 

 almost sole trees of the country. The first grows most plenti- 

 fully in Lower Egypt, but seems to decrease in numbers south- 

 wards ; its umbrageous spreading boughs offer tempting retreats 

 for insectivorous birds, and its topmost branches a safe position 

 for the nests of the Black Kite and Hooded Crow. The acacia 

 of the Nile, with its deep-green leaves, throws a grateful shade 

 around the native dwellings, but is not so generally or exten- 

 sively distributed as the common " camel-thorn," which is 

 spread over Egypt, and extends into Nubia, lining the river's 

 bank for many a long mile, either in thickset bush, overgrown 

 with creepers and spider-webs, or single gnarled old trees, 

 among the branches of which the Chameleon may often be seen. 

 The palm is by no means a fitting resort for birds; and wherever 



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