Mr. W. T. H. Chambers's Mo7it/i in Tripoli. 101 



determined to encamp for a couple of days and rest ; for the hot 

 south wind, which raised the thermometer to 90° or more in the 

 shade, made travelling anything but agreeable. I shot here 

 several Barbary Partridges {Caccabis petrosa), which abounded 

 among the steep rocky hills covered with low scrub. These 

 birds rise well to the sportsman approaching from above, but 

 woe to him who seeks to follow them up the steep side of a hill ; 

 for they run on in advance till, disappearing over the crest before 

 their pursuer reaches it, they take wing to the other side of the 

 valley. An Arab brought me the eggs of this bird, seven in 

 number, which he had just taken. I also found a nest oi Alauda 

 cristata placed close to the ground and containing three eggs. 

 I here observed Crateropus acacia, but unfortunately could not 

 procure a specimen, though, as I was familiar with this bird in 

 Nubia, I feel sure I was not mistaken as to its identity. CEdi- 

 cnemus crepitans I twice saw ; and among the olive-trees which 

 encircled our camp Sylvia melanucephala and S. mbalpina were 

 very pleniful. I sent off an Arab to Tripoli laden with a basket 

 of hares and Partridges for my friend ; and, in spite of the suffo- 

 cating hot wind, he accomplished the distance of sixty-six miles 

 on foot in twenty hours, and, after one night's rest, returned 

 eighty miles to our next encampment in forty-four hours, and, 

 so far from appearing fatigued, immediately set out to accom- 

 pany me shooting for another twenty miles ! 



Another day's journey brought us to Lebdah, the site of the 

 ancient Leptis, the ruins of which, now half-buried in sand, 

 cover a large area. Even the sea itself has united with the sand 

 and the wind in the work of destruction, and has made great 

 inroads into what was once a flourishing city, and gold orna- 

 ments are often found by the natives on the beach after a storm. 

 I passed two days amid this scene of desolation under the 

 guidance of good Sheyk Omar, one of the most intelligent and 

 hospitable of Arab chiefs I ever met with. Columba livia, Athene 

 persica, Tinnunculns alaudariiis, Corvus corax and Saxicola 

 stapazina were the feathered inhabitants of the ruins, while on 

 the banks of the stream which intersects the ancient citv, the 

 Green Sandpiper appeared to be the sole representative of the 

 class which I had hoped to find more numerous. In a thornv 



