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Some Notes on a feiv Egyptian Desert Birds.



The Desert Lark (Ammo manes deserti ) is a cheery, friendly

little bird, and those near our camp became very tame, even

venturing into the tents in search of crumbs and scraps, dex¬

terously evading the long arms of our pet monkey, who always

hoped, but never managed, to catch one. They took ‘dust baths*

in the golden sand, and in the early morning sang their small

twittering song, as they flew from rock to rock. The plumage of

the Desert Lark is sand-coloured, with pale-brown wings and

tail, with flesh-coloured beak and light yellowish-brown legs, so

that it matches its surroundings in a wonderful way.


Another Desert Lark (. A.fraterculus ) known as Tristram’s

Desert Lark, is much the same as the former, but it has a spotted

throat. They both came to the camp, and seem to be about

equally distirbuted between Luxor and the Second Cataract.


The large Bifasciated Lark (Alaemon alaudipes) is met with

now and then in various parts of the country, always ‘far from

the madding crowd ’ and cultivation. We saw it only after some

hours’ journey into the desert. Other travellers have also noted

the solitary habits of this bird. Some distance, perhaps three or

four miles from the Der Simutn, opposite Aswan, I once stalked

one of these birds for some way, and got quite near it, but the

moment it caught sight of me it ran on very fast, then ‘doubled*

very cleverly behind some rocks, and, after a few minutes, rose

suddenly and flew away, only a few yards above the ground, so

that I soon lost sight of it in the dazzling distance of sand that

quivered in the heat. This lark has a spotted throat, and very

dark-brown and white wings.


I think it is permissible to place the Crested Lark (Galerida

cristata) among desert birds, for they are always found in Egypt

on the edge of the desert and in waste places. In the dreary

Arab graveyards, and on the outskirts of the fellaheen villages,

between the river and the sand, also many miles from any

cultivation. They are knowing-looking little fellows with their

odd pointed crests and bright eyes! The brown and buff of

their colouring varies very much, and appears to take the tone

of the locality which they inhabit. Those living in rocky dis¬

trict, such as Gebel Es Silsileh, or further south among the

granite rocks of Aswan, were darker than those in the open



