EAEE BIKDS. 47 



from my own experience, that I found the former most abun- 

 dant to the north, while I met with none but A. fraterculus 

 to the south. On our return journey, about the 20th of 

 April, I found Turtur Sharpei breeding in great abundance 

 on the island of Sehayl, where I frequently procured its nest 

 in the low sont bushes, generally with young birds ; it is never 

 placed on the ground, as is frequently the case with T. sene- 

 c/alensis. 



I shall pass rapidly over my Nubian experiences, as I only 

 spent a fortnight between the First and Second Cataracts, and 

 there is no very great variety of large birds on this part of the 

 Nile ; indeed there is no big game for the sportsman. On 

 the 6th of April I first met with the beautiful yellow-breasted 

 Sunbird, Nectarinia metallica, the most thoroughly tropical 

 form I came across during my tour ; this lovely little bird is 

 by no means uncommon here in April, when it had evidently 

 only just arrived fi'om its winter quarters ; probably later it 

 descends the Nile below the First Cataract, as I found it 

 on the 14th within twenty miles of Philse. Here, in April, 

 I first saw the Common SwaUow and House-Martin de- 

 scending the Nile in abundance. Along the banks I 

 met with Motacilla melanocepJiala and M. jlava in nume- 

 rous large flocks, never mixed ; and although I shot a 

 great number of the latter, I never came across a single 

 specimen of the typical M. cinereocapilla among them, al- 

 though this latter bird was also abundant in more scattered 

 flocks. Among the other common small birds, Saxicola leu- 

 copy gia is perhaps the most plentiful ; Ammomanes frater- 

 culus, Aedon galactodes, Anthus campestris, A. arboreus, 

 and Hypolais eleeica are very abundant. Among the birds 

 of prey we met with Circaetus gallicus, Falco lanarius, F. 

 (B.mlo)i, and F. tinnunculus, Circus cEruginosus, and C. pal- 



