238 Mr. S. S. Allen on the Birds of Egypt and Nubia. 



Saxicola lugens. 



Saxicola pallida. 



Saxicola deserti, Riipp. 



Saxicola cenanthe. 



Saxicola stapazina. 



Saxicola aurita. 



Saxicola isabellina, Riipp, 



The Chats find a congenial home in Egypt, and consequently 

 abound here, not only in species, but in numbers. The first, 

 S. lugens, is found more or less commonly, in suitable places, 

 from Cairo upwards. The two next belong rather to Upper 

 Egypt, particularly S. pallida, my specimen of which, with others, 

 was obtained by my friend J. H. Cochrane at Thebes. The only 

 Wheatear found near Cairo (or rather Ghizeh) in winter is S. 

 isabellina of Riippell, described by Bree under the name of S. 

 saltatrix, and which Dr. Adams seems to have mistaken for S. 

 cenanthe, 5 . 



The true S. cenanthe appears in March and April in the 

 locality mentioned above, together with S. stapazina and S. 

 aurita. When the two birds are compared, S. isabellina will be 

 found to be a larger and heavier bird altogether, with marked 

 differences of bill, tarsus, &c. Last spring I made a very com- 

 plete series of the last four species, in the neighbourhood of 

 Ghizeh. I have also found the plain of Thebes a particularly 

 good place for those Chats peculiar to the upper country. 



Petrocincla cyanea. 



Petrocincla saxatilis. 



I am surprised that Dr. Adams did not find the Blue Thrush 

 at all events tolerably common. I have shot as many as four or 

 five in a morning, about Medinet Haboo, and have constantly 

 seen them in various other places, mostly among ruins or where 

 excavations had been carried on. 



Its congener, the Rock Thrush, comes northward in the end 

 of April, and evinces a very strong partiality for Arab burying- 

 grounds, where one or two are always to be found at that season 

 of the year. The plumage of two or three males, shot near 

 Ghizeh last year, was far finer than any among a large series of 

 Maltese specimens. 



