Ornithology of the Egyptian Soudan. 399 



Mr. W. G. Percival, of the Agricultural and Lands 

 Department, tells me that he has seen eggs in the same: 

 month on small islets opposite the mouth of the Atbara. 



I once found a nest of this bird on a rock not more than 

 two feet in diameter and surrounded by deep water. The eggs 

 of the Spur-winged Plover, too, may often be found on the 

 tiniest of islets. It seems to me unlikely that the chicks of 

 these species can remain in such places for more than a day 

 or two, and I imagine that the old birds must carry them 

 across to the mainland at a very early age. 



In Kordofan, when stalking Oryx leucoryx west of 

 Mazrub, I have several times flushed a very dark-coloured 

 (Edicnemus in the sandy bush-country. I never secured a 

 specimen, and do not know what species it is. 



326. Pluvianus .egyptius (Linn.). 



a. S ■ Blue Nile, April 2, 1901. 



The charming little Egyptian Plover is common all along 

 the rivers of the Soudan wherever there are sand-banks. It 

 is, as might be expected, absent from the regions of swamp 

 and sncld. 



Though very seldom leaving the margin of the river, it 

 will sometimes take to frequenting a native village a few 

 hundred yards inland. It then becomes more than usually 

 fearless, tripping about the open spaces and "zaribas^ 

 among the tethered goats, or standing on the roofs of the 

 mud-buddings within a few feet of a passer by. 



In the winter it may be found in flocks of up to twenty, 

 but pairs are, I think, commoner all the year round. 



Its eggs are extremely difficult to find, and I have only 

 once succeeded in obtaining them. This was on the Rahad 

 River, April 10th, 1903. I found the nest under the 

 following circumstances : — On the 9th I was fishing in a- 

 rocky pool. Opposite me was a sand-bank on which a pair of 

 these Plovers was running about rather aimlessly. Presently 

 I noticed one of them sit down on the sand. For nearly 

 an hour I continued fishing and the bird did not move • 



<w E t* 



