of certain Birds in North-eastern Africa. 125 



3. Bubo ascalaphus *, Cuv. et Savign. 



This species has been observed by Heuglin in Upper Egypt 

 and Nubia in pairs and in small companies ; it breeds also in 

 Lower Egypt, where Wilk.e found two nests on the Pyramids of 

 Abusir and Sakara on the 26th and 27th of March 1858. Each 

 of the cavities scratched in the sandy surface^ at a shadowy but 

 not dark locality, contained three fresh eggs. 



The eggs of the one brood are more elongate, those of the 

 other more rounded ; all having a very regular form, the greatest 

 diameter passing through the centre, and the profile descending 

 the poles sometimes in a more gentle, sometimes in a more 

 abrupt elliptical curve. The length varies between 22 and 24 

 lines, the breadth between 18| and 20; the largest specimen is 

 24 lines long and 20 broad, the smallest 22 long and 19 broad; 

 the weight is 48 to 60 grains. 



They differ from the eggs of Bubo maximus in their smaller size 

 and finer grain. The largest specimens of Si/rnium aluco do not 

 attain to the size of the smallest egg of our species ; whilst the 

 largest eggs of B. ascalaphus equal those of Surnia nyctea. The 

 eggs of the latter species, however, differ in their greater weight 

 and in their grain, the tubercular prominences in our species 

 being more separated and not quite so flat, and the pores being 

 relatively larger and deeper, and sometimes forming congregated 

 groups. 



4. Sterna senegalensis. Swains. 



Heuglin has brought home specimens of birds and of eggs of 

 this species, hitherto known only from the mouth of the Niger, 

 Senegambia, Ashantee, and Corisko. He found them on the 

 shores of the Red Sea, south of the Tropic, where they breed on 

 cliffs and islands near Souakin, on the Amarat Islands, and on 

 other isles of the archipelago of Dahalak (that is, between 15° 

 and 16°N.L.), and probably also further southwards. 



The eggs were found in the end of July and in the beginning 

 of August on flat coral-reefs, close to the beach, in shallow 

 cavdties of three inches diameter, sometimes without such a 



* Bubo ascalaphus oi Egy\»t isvery closely allied to, even if really distinct 

 from, B. beityalensis of India. — Ed. 



