230 Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, i^-c. 



"Athene meridionalis is very common. I have got half-a- 

 dozen specimens ; also one very fine Owl with naked tarsi, which 

 I do not know. 



"We have also a Raven which I do not know, but it may 

 be one of Heuglin's African species. We found it in one 

 place associating with the Common Raven. The most inter- 

 esting birds on our list of captures are, Ixos xanthopygius, Cin- 

 clus aquaticus, Saxicola lugens, Garrulus melanocephalus, Picus 

 major, var.*, Hirundo savignyi (common all winter on the coast), 

 Alcedo rudis, Parus major (var. ?), Cisticola schcenicola, Phoeni- 

 copterus antiquormn, Cygnus musicus, Charadrius asiaticus, Larus 

 ichthyaetus, and Larus audouinii. It is curious to find the Field- 

 fare along with Ixos xanthopygius and numbers of Sylvia atri- 

 capilla — all the males of the latter having in winter what is con- 

 sidered the female plumage. In the last three days we have been 

 very hard at work, and our list already comprises Ixos xantho- 

 pygius, Crateropus chalybeus, Nectarinia osea, Ammoperdix heyi, 

 Amydrus tristrami, Halcyon smyrnensis, Drymceca gracilis. Re- 

 gular modestus, Phyllopneuste, sp. ?, Saxicola eurymelcena, Am- 

 momanes, sp. ?, Turtur agyptiacus, and one or two others which I 

 expect will prove new. All the above we have found in tolerable 

 abundance. The Nectarinia osea is a lovely bird, as one sees him 

 glancing in the sunlight in pursuit of his mate from bush to 

 bush ; he is something like the Long-tailed Tit in his actions. 



"The weather here is very hot — warmer than the finest 

 summer days in England. We have taken four species of Bats : 

 one a large animal, 14 inches from wing to wing; another with 

 a tail longer than his body. In other mammals we have not 

 been very successful. Wild boars, ichneumons (the Egyptian 

 species), two species of rats, a mouse with a bristly back, and 

 a mole very difierent from ours, are all my list comprises. 

 Four or five species of fish, two or three of serpents, four or 

 five batrachians, and nearly a dozen of lizards comprise our 

 catalogue of cold-blooded Vertebrates. But, as it is the worst 

 season for them, we may expect much hereafter fi'om this 

 beginning. 



" Lowne reports 220 species of plants collected in flower, and 

 * Probably Picus cruentatus, Antinori. — Ed. 



