196 Mr. A. J. Cholmley on the Birds of 



XVII. — Notes on the Birds of the Western Coast of the 

 Red Sea. By Alfred J. Cholmley, F.Z.S. 



In the autumn of 1895 I was invited by Mr. Theodore Bent 

 to join him in an expedition to the west coast of the Red Sea, 

 his intention being in the first place to explore the ruins of 

 the ancient town of Berenice, and, if possible, to go inland 

 from there ; but if this could not be done, to coast down the 

 Red Sea and land as circumstances permitted. We left 

 England on the 1st of December, 1895, and, after a stay of 

 a few days in Cairo, we went to Suez to hire a boat of some 

 kind, but found it rather difficult to decide among those 

 that were offered to us. "We at last chose a dhow of about 

 80 tons, named ' Tyceer,^ which we got for £30 per month, 

 with an Arab captain and a crew of 17 Arabs. She was a 

 quaint-looking vessel, with low bows and very high stern, 

 decked over for about 15 feet in the bows, and the same in 

 the stern, where two cabins were constructed of rough boards 

 under the stern-deck, for our accommodation. The boat was 

 infested with many splendid specimens of the cockroach, and 

 other insects even more unpleasant. Our reis and crew, 

 however, all proved most excellent fellows, and, as a rule, 

 seemed most anxious to please. 



Our party consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Bent, 

 Lieut. Smyth of the Queen's Bays, and myself; Mouthes 

 Simos, a Greek, as cook ; Annibale Piacentini, a Maltese ; 

 De Sosten, a Spaniard, as interpreter and guide ; and two 

 servants. 



We left Suez the day after Christmas Day, and sailed all 

 the first night down the Gulf of Suez, but afterwards, when 

 we got among the coral-reefs of the Red Sea, we always 

 anchored at night, sometimes behind a coral-reef, and some- 

 times in one of the small land-locked harbours abounding 

 on the west coast. The first time we anchored was behind 

 a reef called Sheikh Ganem, just at the entrance of the Gulf 

 of Suez; and there, on a small patch of coral, were an 

 Osprey, a large Grey-backed Gull, a Skua Gull, and three 

 sorts of Sandpipers. A Dunlin was shot, but the others flew 



