INTRODUCTION. 



Since the late Captain G. E. Shelley jDublished his " Hand- 

 book on the Birds of Egypt" in 1872 no scientific work dealing 

 entirely with the avifauna of this country has been produced. 



Shelley enumerates 352 species as inhabiting Egypt, but 

 many of these he rightly casts some doubt on and only includes 

 them on the authority of older writers, and one — the ostrich — 

 is extinct in the country. 



In 1875 Mr. J. H. Gurney spent six months bird-collecting 

 in Egypt, and the results of his trip were published in 1876 in 

 his excellent work entitled " Rambles of a Naturalist," in 

 which the author treats of 220 species from Egypt. 



Short papers have since been published in the " Ibis " 

 and other puljlications dealing with the birds of Egypt, but 

 it is unnecessary to enumerate them here. 



For the past thirteen years I have been collecting specimens 

 and notes with the intention of publishing a handlist on the 

 avifauna of the country. Shortly after the outbreak of war, 

 owing to the presence of many persons in the E.E.E. interested 

 in ornithology, and the consequent stream of questions re the 

 identification of birds seen by them, it was decided to bring 

 out as complete a list as possible of the birds of Egypt, giving 

 the status and adding a short description of each form. This 

 was practically completed three years ago, but owing to shortage 

 of paper in the country it was found impossible to put this book 

 in the press until quite recently. 



This handlist will, I trust, be a help to my brother orni- 

 thologists in this and in other countries. About 437 forms 

 of birds are admitted as inhabiting or having been recorded 

 from Egypt. Of these the majority are migrants, and some 

 few very rare stragglers. Apart from records taken from for- 

 merly published works, the notes in this list are based on a col- 

 lection of about 4,000 skins which I have brought together 

 during a thirteen years' residence in Egypt and which are now 

 in the Zoological Museum at Giza. 



