372 Mr. E. Cavendish Taylor on Birds of Egypt. 



mains to breed in Egypt. I quite admit that Passer donies- 

 ticus is the Sparrow of the towns ; but I still maintain my 

 previously expressed opinion that this species is fully as abun- 

 dant as that one in the open country. The heaps of dead 

 Sparrows exposed for sale in the Cairo bird-market^ which I 

 visited almost daily, contained generally a greater number of 

 this species than of Passer domesticus. Early in April, at 

 Heliopolis, I saw a lot of Sparrows congregated on a low sont 

 tree. I took a family shot, and brought down eight of them. 

 Two were females. Of the remaining six, five were males of 

 this species in full breeding-plumage, and the other was Passer 

 domesticus — which shows that the two species occasionally 

 congregate together, a fact of which I was not previously 

 aware. 



CoRvus UMBRiNUS, Hcdcnborg. Brown-necked Raven. 



This bird breeds regularly at the Pyramids of Gizeh in a 

 certain hole in the second Pyramid. I visited the hole on 

 the 21st of March last. The nest and birds were there ; but 

 the eggs were not yet laid. This species differs from the 

 common Raven, Corvus corax, not only in size and colour, but 

 also in having the wing-primaries longer and much more 

 pointed. The legs are also, I think, longer and stronger in 

 proportion to the size of the bird. 



TuRTUR isABELLiNUs, Bonapartc. 



I first saw this Dove on March 29, at Halouan, where I 

 shot the only one I saw there. I afterwards found it pretty 

 common between Abbassieh and Heliopolis. This is con- 

 siderably further north than Mr. Gurney found it. 



Ibis ^thiopica (Lath.). Sacred Ibis. 



I saw a fine adult specimen of this bird (the Ibis religiosa 

 of authors) in the collection of M. Eugene Fillipponi at 

 Damietta, who told me that it had been shot by an Arab near 

 Lake Menzaleh last November. The Arab said that he saw 

 a pair, but only succeeded in shooting one of them. M. Fil- 

 lipponi entertained what I thought rather an exaggerated 

 idea of the value of this specimen ; so I did not purchase it, 

 and he has it still for sale. I believe that this species has 



