On Birds from the Wadi- en-Nat run, Egypt. 453 



clay. The results of a further examination of the question I 

 hope to submit to the readers of ' The Ibis ' in the near 

 future. 



Some years ago Mr. J. G. Goodchild, in his paper on the 

 " Cubital Coverts of the Euornithes " *, contended that the 

 Birds-of-Paradise were unique among the Passeres in that 

 they lacked median coverts. He relied, apparently, solely 

 on the overlap of the feathers. A more thorough examination 

 of the wing shews that Mr. Goodchild was mistaken in this 

 matter. The wing is of the normal Passerine type, though 

 it may possess certain peculiarities of overlap. This point, 

 from lack of fresh specimens, I have been unable to deter- 

 mine. The evidence from skins is absolutely unreliable on 

 this subject. 



XXVIII. — On a small Collection of Birds from the Wadi-en- 

 Natrun, Egypt. By W. L. S. Loat, F.Z.S. 



The Wadi-en-Natmu, or Natron Valley, of Egypt is 

 situated in the Libyan Desert about seventy miles W.N.W. 

 of Cairo, and sixty miles nearly due south of Alexandria f. 

 The valley, which is twenty-one miles in length from end 

 to end, lies approximately W.N.W. by E.S.E., and contains 

 a chain of ten alkaline lakes yielding the natron from 

 which the soda-ash of commerce is obtained. Scattered 

 throughout the Wadi are a number of freshwater pools, 

 generally more or less surrounded by a dense growth of . a 

 species of papyrus, locally known as " bourdy," which also 

 covers large tracts of the marshy ground, forming, in fact, 

 nearly ninety per cent, of the vegetable growth found there. 

 Tramping through these marshes is by no means pleasant, as 

 the ground under foot generally consists of soft black mud, 

 which in places gives off sulphuretted hydrogen at every step. 

 On the higher ground are stretches of sand-hills sparsely 



* " The Cubital Coverts of the Euornithae in relation to Taxonomy," 

 Proc. Roy. Phys. Hoc. Edinb. vol. x. (1888-90). 

 t These distances are taken from the centre of the Wadi. 



