Mr. S. S. Allen o?i the Birds of Egypt and Nubia. 239 



CoRvus UMBRiNUs, Uedcnborg. 



The Raven of Egypt belongs to this permanent variety, if it 

 be not a distinct species. All the specimens I have examined 

 are constant in having the umber-brown head and shoulders, 

 whilst the eggs differ considerably from those of C. corax. 



I tormented myself very considerably, last April, in the vain 

 attempt to rear a hopeful family of five young Ravens, which 

 appeared to be all mouth and stomach, for nothing came amiss 

 to them. They, however, all came to an untimely end from (as 

 it appeared to me) a mixture of cowp de soleil and camel-i'iding. 

 I have never seen the Raven in flocks as Dr. Adams speaks 

 of, or otherwise than in pairs ; but have occasionally observed 

 large flocks of what I took to be Rooks in the Delta, though un- 

 able to shoot one to identify it. 



Passer domesticus. 



Passer salicicola. 



These two species are about equally conmion in Egypt ; nor 

 do they always keep separate, as, in firing into a flock, I have 

 killed specimens of both. Those of the former which I have 

 taken home for comparison have proved smaller than the usual 

 English birds — a peculiarity which is very distinctly observable 

 in the case of many species common to both countries. On one 

 occasion I found a nest of P. domesticus built in that of a King- 

 fisher [Ceryle rudis), some four feet inside the river-bank; and 

 when the Sparrow^s nest was removed, the eggs of the original 

 possessor were found underneath. 



TURTUR SENEGALENSIS (Bouap.). 



TuRTUR AURiTus (Ray). 



The Palm Dove remains in Egypt all the year round, and is 

 exceedingly tame and familiar. It breeds in the groves of orange- 

 and lemon-trees in the Delta, but even more frequently in the 

 dilapidated woodwork of houses, or even in the rooms them- 

 selves. In the house where I lived in Cairo, a pair of these 

 Doves would insist upon building their nest on a cornice near 

 the ceiling, in spite of attempts to keep them out or dislodge 

 them, much to the vexation of the lady of the house. 



The Common Turtle comes down in flocks from the upper 



