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



15 miles north of Ilalaib, where there is the site of an ancient 

 town. We stayed here a few days exploring the site, but 

 found nothing of value or of much interest except quantities 

 of broken glass bracelets, of which there were so many that 

 in the course of two hours I picked up pieces of 260 different 

 patterns. While here we got a few Sand-Grouse, two young 

 Shrikes {Lanius fallax), several specimens of the Stone- 

 Curlew, and an Egyptian Goatsucker. One day while near 

 the sea I saw two black Ducks, which I am sure were Velvet 

 Scoters — the large yellow beak and black plumage showed 

 distinctly, but they were too far off for a shot. There was 

 no fresh water here, but the remains of three tanks, one 

 of which was nearly perfect. We were much troubled here 

 by a sandstorm, which lasted two days. The wind blew a 

 gale from the south-west, and the sand drifted through 

 every hole in the tents, and it was quite impossible to do 

 any collecting. 



The day after our return to Halaib, we hired camels and 

 journeyed up to Shelal, about 20 miles inland, where we camped 

 at the foot of the mountain of that name. It is about 

 4100 feet high, very rugged and bare, except in the gorges, 

 which were full of creepers and vegetation of all sorts, 

 while the talus at the foot was covered with mimosa-trees 

 growing among loose stones, all rounded and water-worn, 

 which made w^alkiug excessively hard. There were Turtle- 

 Doves here [Turtur roseogriseus) and numbers of Grey 

 Shrikes, one of which used to perch on a mimosa just over 

 the tent and sing. The first night we were here two leopards 

 paid us a visit, attracted, no doubt, by a freshly-killed sheep. 

 They were the only beasts of prey we came across during the 

 whole of our expedition from Suez to Sawakin. 



The Abyssinian Sun-bird {Chmyris liabessinica) was found 

 here. This was the only Sun-bird met with on the western 

 coast of the Red Sea, and it was common everywhere. There 

 was a good run of w^ater here in one of the gorges about a 

 mile away from our camp ; we were informed that it lasted 

 only four months in the year, though there must be some 

 water during the drv season, or the birds could not exist. 



