1917-] Suez Canal Zone and Sitiai Peninsula. 541 



Tlie character of the country varied, though for the great 

 part of our time we were on the desert. Tlie only cultivation 

 we saw was a fruitful tract of land at Suez and a much 

 smaller patch at Ismailia, though there was a certain amount 

 of growth along the Sweet- Water Canal, which runs parallel 

 to and a few yards from the Suez Canal. 



The desert east of the Suez Canal in the south was bare, 

 with very little scrub of any sort, l)ut further north round 

 Ballah the scrub grew thicker altogether, and along the 

 north road the desert was thickly covered, in many parts as 

 far as the eye could see. This road too was relieved by 

 fairly frequent Palm-" Hods/^ and at Katia the oasis was of 

 considerable extent. All along the road water of brackish 

 quality is plentifnl, and consequently the Palm-Hods usually 

 occur every few miles ; it is only on reaching El Arish that 

 the desert — sand-dunes west of the town — becomes quite 

 bare again. 



The number of birds to be seen is naturally smaller where 

 the desert is quite bare, but it cannot be said that the more 

 thickly covered tracts held any great numbers except during 

 the period of migration. 



Two very fruitful spots I was unable to visit except on 

 two or three occasions : a salt-marsh between Suez and 

 Kubri, and another marsh on the north coast near Port 

 Said, which I only saw from the coast railway. Systematic 

 observation and collecting would soon add scores of species 

 to the following list. 



Dates given refer to 1916 unless otherwise stated. 



The nomenclature is that of Dresser's ' Manual of 

 Palaearctic Birds ' (1903) : the difficulty of distinguishing 

 many subspecies without collecting made it impossible to 

 discriminate more closely. 



Turdus viscivorus. Missel-Thrush, 



A single bird flew south over the sand-dunes at Moham- 

 media on 29 October. This is, I understand, the first record 

 of this bird for Egypt ; ray attention was fortunately first 

 attracted by its call-note, so that 1 was able to identify it 

 witii certainty. 



