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



extent, were for the most part dry, so that I could get about 

 without any difficulty to visit the salt-ponds amongst them. 

 These generally abounded in minnows, as also did the small 

 stream which runs down through the marshes to the sea. The 

 tamarisk grows on the upper parts; and a stunted thorny 

 bush, which grows upon the sandhills, takes its place as you 

 approach the sea. 



I had now got into a much warmer climate, very different 

 from the bracing air of the mountains. Very few of those birds 

 which inhabit the mountain district occur here. The plain of 

 El Gaa, on the borders of which my tent was pitched, was, as I 

 have before said, almost destitute of birds; and my attention 

 was chiefly confined to the marshes and the sea-shore, as the 

 palm-grove proved little better than the plain. The only reason 

 I can assign for this absence of the feathered race is the ex- 

 posure of the trees to high winds, which blow constantly off the 

 sea, and perhaps the want of other vegetation. Palms growing 

 alone, are not, I think, a very favourite resort of birds. 



The first bird I saw upon the marshes was Alcedo ispida. 1 

 just caught sight of his blue back as he darted from under a 

 high bank over one of the salt-ponds, when he was immediately 

 lost to view. For three mornings successively he did this 

 before I was able to get a shot at him. I did not see this bird 

 again until I was at Akabah, which is situated at the head of the 

 gulf of the same name; but on the eastern shore, and thus just out 

 of the Peninsula, it is common, and may be generally seen sitting 

 on the stones in the still waters, when disturbed flying up into 

 the palm-grove, which comes down within a few yards of the sea. 

 Of the Chats, Saxicola monacha was the only species that was 

 abundant, and was chiefly confined to one part of the marshes 

 and sandhills, where the samphire grew, on the top of which 

 they used to perch. Cock birds were more plentiful than 

 hens. aS^. lugens I saw now and then and shot, in order to 

 satisfy myself it was not S. lihanotica. Of S. deserti I obtained 

 a pair. Calandrella deserti and Anthus spinoletta were both 

 common, the former frequenting the sides of the stream in 

 large flocks, the latter running along the sides of the salt- 

 ponds. Gulerita arenicola was to be seen occasionally in small 



