264 On the Birds of Lower Egy Jit. [Ibis, 



crronnd, but the majority were amongst prickly pears in 

 little sand-pits. Five a]ipears to be the full clutcli. 



[Mr. H. Malcolm took a clutcli of seven eggs at Damietta 

 on 16 April, and fresh eggs at Minieh on 6. v. 04. 



At Mazghouna I took clutches of 6, 5, 5, slightly 

 incubated, on 4. v. 10, and found two fresh eggs and one 

 nest in which the birds had not yet laid. — R.S.] 



111. XJpupa epops epops. European Hoopoe. 



This subspecies occurs annually, but owing to its great 

 resemblance to the next on tlie list its dates of arrival and 

 departure nre hard to judge. 



I have obtained it several times during the winter months, 

 and have observed it well out on the desert, obviously 

 migrating in April. 



112. TJpupa epops major Brehm. Brehm's Hoopoe. 

 (Common ;nid resident. I took a clutch of six fresh eggs 



out of a hole 20 feet up in the wall of our engine-house on 

 3 March, 1917. Other dates are : 0/4, 10 April, 1916 ; 

 0/6, 3 May, 1917 ; and 0/7, 0/7 at Inchas, 12 May, 1918. 



This bird uses many sites for depositing its eggs, and I 

 never found any nesting material in their filthy holes. 



I quote a few sites which came under my observation : — '■ 

 Hole inside native hut, hole in a tree, old nesting-hole of the 

 Pied Kingfisher nearly flush with water in a deep canal, 

 firebox of old obsolete oven which was leaning against a 

 wall, drain-pipe carrying water off a roof, and high up under 

 the eaves of our engine-house, where presumably the same 

 pair rais(^d three broods in 1918. Hoopoes were again 

 breeding there when I left in April 1919. 



[The hole in a wall or under the eaves of a native house 

 seems to be the usual site of nest. My dates for eggs are : 

 Luxor, six fresh and three hard-set, 18. iii. 10 ; Inchas, six 

 fresh, three fresh, on 30. iii. 10. At Inchas on 29. v. 09 I 

 found seven young fourteen days old and five young ten days 

 old ; also four fresh eggs on 27. vi. 09, and it is evidently 

 double- or treble-brooded. — 11. S.] 



[To be continued.] 



