Capt. G. E. Shelley on Egyptian Ornithology. 45 



Uendera on the 25th of March, where I found it in a low Acacia 

 tree about twelve feet from the ground ; it contained four hard-set 

 eggs. The nest of this bird is rather carefully constructed of 

 sticks and reeds, and is smoothly lined with dried leaves of the 

 sugar-cane. 



27. AsTUR PALUMBARius (L.). Goshawk. 



We shot a fine female specimen of this bird at Benisooef on 

 the 24th of March, 1868. Tiiis is, I believe, the first notice of a 

 Goshawk having been shot in Egypt. 



28. AcciPiTER Nisus (L.). Sparrow-Hawk. 

 Very abundant throughout Egypt and Nubia. 



29. Circus ^ruginosus (L.). Marsh Harrier. 



Met with throughout Egypt and Nubia, but far most abun- 

 dant in the Delta. I cannot pass over this species without a 

 remark upon a fine series of seven specimens which I brought 

 back, in the many varied stages of adult plumage with grey 

 wings and tail, all of which proved to be males by dissection, 

 from which it would appear that the females do not so readily 

 attain that peculiar stage of plumage, if they do so at all. My 

 specimens vary extremely among themselves : one has the head 

 and chest cream-colour marked with longitudinal spots of rufous 

 brown, and is an extremely handsome pale specimen from Da- 

 mietta. Another one, from Nubia, is of a general dark brown 

 colour, head and shoulders varied with buff, tail entirely grey, 

 and wings well marked with the same colour, the under part of 

 the wiiig of a deep brown very sparingly marked with buff, while 

 in my other six specimens the same part of the wing varies from 

 pure white to very pale cinereous brown. My Nubian specimen 

 was a diseased bird, as shown by the legs and bill, and may con- 

 sequently have attained its peculiar plumage from an imperfect 

 moult, which has caused it only to assume the grey tail and 

 wings, while the rest of its plumage has remained nearly the 

 same as in the immature bird., 



30. Circus cyaneus (L.). IIcn-Harrier. 



This is the least common of the three species of Harriers in- 



