Mr. C. W. Wyatt on the Birds of Sinai. 3 



sandstone region. In Wady Narb^ where there are a few 

 acacia trees {Acacia seyal), the shittah trees of the Bible, I saw 

 the pretty Blackstart [Pratincola melanura) and Phyllopneuste 

 trochilus. At the foot of Sarbut-el-Khadem we first met with 

 Caccabis heyi, which is only found amongst the mountains : 

 they proved to be very fat and good eating ; in fact, this and 

 the other Partridge [Caccabis saxatilis) are the only fat things 

 in the Peninsula, The greatest part of our journey now lay up 

 the Wadys Khamileh, Barg, Berah, audEsh Sheikh. The bare 

 rocky mountains, which completely shut in the wadys on both 

 sides, though they do not often rise perpendicularly, became 

 higher and higher as we proceeded southwards. In some places 

 in Wady Esh Sheikh the tamarisk abounds ; and it seemed as 

 if it ought to be rather a likely place for birds, though we only 

 noticed Ruticilla tithys and Ammomanes deserti. The latter 

 was abundant. 



On arriving at Sinai, after we had paid a visit to the monks 

 at the convent, we pitched our tents in the valley below, about 

 4900 feet above the sea, at the foot of Ras Susafeh, which 

 towered up above us nearly 2000 feet. The mornings were 

 now getting very cold, and the shattered appearance of Cynthia 

 cardui showed the approach of winter in these high regions. 

 The thermometer descended below the freezing-point most 

 mornings, and before another month had passed we had had 10 

 degrees of frost. Snow was to be seen on the tops of the 

 mountains ; and on one occasion the ground around our camp 

 was quite covered with it in the early morning, though it soon 

 yielded to the heat of the sun. Few insects were to be seen; 

 and all the herbs and plants, from the seeds of which many of 

 the feathered race obtain a sustenance, were leafless. 



Birds of prey were very scarce, not only here but all over the 

 Peninsula. Occasionally I saw Neophron peraiopterus. I ob- 

 observed also Aquila bonellii two or three times soaring along 

 the mountain-side, always, however, out of gunshot. Tinnun- 

 culus alaudarius passed over our tents on one occasion, and Falco 

 lanarius I saw twice in the neighbouring wadys. The Kev. 

 F. W. Holland shot Athene persica on the plain of Er Rahah 

 one evening. Its crop was found to be full of ants. It is con- 



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