Ornithology of the Egyptian Soudan. 263 



M. de Vilmorin. The bird is very like the South- African 

 Q^. capensis, but has a much shorter tarsus. 



295. Pluvianus .^igyptius (Linn.). 

 o. ? . Chak Chak, 19.2.07. 



The Egyptian Ph^vcr was abundant on the sandbanks of 

 the Jur, Pongo, and Chell Rivers. 



296. Rhinoptilus chalcopterus (Temm.). 



a. ? . Between Chak Cliak and the Pougo, 19.3.07. 



6. ?. „ „ „ „ 20.3.07. 



I only met with these pretty Plovers at one point on our 

 Bahr-el-Ghazal journey. On February 9th I flushed three 

 pairs of them close together. This was in the high forest, with 

 the ground fairly open beneath the trees. They lay till 

 almost trodden on, and then flitted up suddenly and gave a 

 difficult twisting snap-shot among the trees. Being anxious 

 not to damage them as specimens, I missed the birds I fired 

 at on this occasion through giving them too much law. I 

 did not see the species again until we camped at the same 

 spot on our return journey. It was late in the evening, but 

 I hurried off" to the spot where I had seen them before, aurl 

 soon flushed one, which I shot. It was a female, and 

 contained an egg of full size, but with the shell not properly 

 formed. 



Early next morning as we were leaving the place I got 

 another bird at exactly the same spot. I imagined that this 

 would be the male, but it proved to be a second female, not 

 breeding. 



These Plovers seemed to me to be quite forest-birds. I 

 imagine that their habits must be crepuscular^ as they lie like 

 Nightjars during the daytime. 



297. Glareola pratincola (Linn.). 



a. ^. Khartoum, 1. 11.07. 



b. S- „ 15.11.07. 



I did not see the Pratincole in the Bahr-el-Ghazal Province. 



298. Struthio camelus Linn. 



I saw a pair of Ostriches near Mayik on April 9th, but 

 most of the country through which I passed in the Bahr-el- 

 Ghazal Province was too heavily forested for them. 



