28



Lady Wm. Cecil,



take a short flight upwards, and turn, and alight again ; this they

repeat four or five times in the space of a few minutes, for no

apparent reason.


We found them at Kasr El Benat, and two pair in the

Waddy Haiuinamat. The plumage of both sexes is the same, and

very distinct. The head usually being black, the rump white,

and the rest of the body and wings and tail black and white.

They may at times be mistaken for the much-rarer Hooded Chat

{Saxicola moiiacha). The male bird only of this variety is black

and white, the white top of the head and back of the neck, have

the effect of a little hood, The female is light brown, with dark

brown wings, and light and dark brown tail. The throat and

breast almost white and a distinct white eyebrow.


The very old birds of the former (W. leucopyga) sometimes

have white heads, and we saw one at Waddy Sabua with a black

and white speckled head. At the oasis of El Gaeta, two days’

journey from the Nile, a little flock of N. monacha, six or seven

in number, were wonderfully tame, hopping and running among

our men and camels quite fearlessly.


A Chat, called by Shelley the “ Mourning Chat,” is

found in the desert, both in Upper and Lower Egypt. It is a

dainty little bird, pale sandy brown, white on head and face and

yellowish buff breast, with dark brown and black back, a white

tail with dark brown tip and centre.* We saw several in the

desert, but never so far from cultivation as the other Chats

mentioned above. One or two were sighted, between Wasta and

the Fayum, and also at Hawara.


At some distance from Fawakhieh, towards the Red Sea, I

saw two specimens of another Chat, with a distinctly black throat

and a good deal of chestnut colouring about it, with dark brown

and a dark-brown and white tail. I did not known the birds, but

think they must have been either the Black-throated Chat (A.

melanoleuca) or Tristram’s Chat (S. moesta). They showed a good

deal of white when flying. I followed the two birds (a pair?) for

some distance, but it was so terribly hot (a broiling mid-day sun

in the desert is not conducive to undue exertion) that I was

obliged to return to the shade and leave my curiosity unsatisfied.



This does not agree with the typical specimens of S. lugens.— Ed.



