V0l 'l^l5 XI1 ] Phillips, Birds of Sinai. 275 



pitched camp at the mouth of the Wady Aleyat; to students of 

 Bible history, one of the most interesting spots on the peninsula. 

 Most of the ancient traditions center around this place, the ruins 

 of an ancient church and a fine monastery crown the hill of El- 

 Meharret, and the rocks are riddled with graves and cells of an- 

 chorites. The serrated peak of Serbal rises just to the south, the 

 most picturesque mountain on the peninsula, and still claiming 

 distinction as the mountain of the Law Giving, in spite of the at- 

 tempts of the Greek monks to transport all the bible traditions to 

 the neighborhood of Gebel Katherina. 



The brook of Feran waters three miles of a rugged canyon filled 

 with palms, nebk and tamarisk. The climate at this elevation is 

 wonderful, and the bothersome flies and heat of the desert have 

 been left behind. The Palestine Bulbul mingles his Robin-like 

 song with the purring of the stream, and a fair number of other 

 birds are to be found, especially at the head springs. In the thick 

 palms a few shy Tristram's Grackles evaded my gun. We took 

 both the Rock and the Blue Thrush, the latter supposed to be 

 "the sparrow that sitteth alone upon the house-tops" of scripture. 

 Then there were Redstarts, several Warblers, two species of Wag- 

 tails, Tree Pipits and Spanish Sparrows. I even saw a Snipe. In 

 the neighboring valleys the lively little Sand Partridge was abun- 

 dant. It is hard to dismiss the beautiful little See-see (Amnoperdix 

 heyi) without a word of notice. He is the only fat thing in Sinai. 

 He lives in flocks of fair size, and curiously enough, numbers are 

 seen together even in the breeding season. One morning (April 9), 

 I watched the mating antics of a pair of these birds. The female 

 was squatting in the sand and the male constantly hopped over 

 and ran around her. Every little while they would seize each other 

 by the bills and wrestle about with much flapping of wings and their 

 feathers flying. They kept this up for ten minutes and I had to 

 leave them still at it. 



Best of all, at Feran however, was the capture of a Butler's Owl 

 (Strix butleri, see Plate XVII), our specimen making the third one 

 known to science. The first ohe was sent to Hume from South 

 Baluchistan, and the second came from Sinai. The background 

 of the plate shows the vale of Feran and the rough outline of Mt. 

 Serbal where the ibex and the leopard still wander. 



