174 Letters, Extracts, and Notes. [Ibis, 



somewhat remarkable that this bird should be so common 

 on the coasts of Sardinia and Corsica and in the Adriatic, 

 and yet be unknown or almost so in Malta. 



Yours truly, 

 2 November, 1917. F- C. li. JoURDAlN. 



Birds of Egypt. 



Sir, — I have read with great pleasure Captain A. W. 

 Boyd's paper on '' Birds in the Suez Canal Zone and Sinai 

 Peninsula/^ whicli is especially interesting to me, as I was 

 also stationed in the Suez Canal Zone for some six weeks in 

 February and March, 1916. 



My observations, so far as they go, confirm Captain Boyd's 

 remarks on the distribution of the various species, except in 

 the case of the Common Snipe [Gnllinago coelestis), which was 

 not uncommon in the marshes along the south-west shores 

 of Lake Timsah, Avhere I shot several. Quail [Coturnix 

 communis) were also found in considerable numbers in these 

 marshes and in the fields near them, and during their 

 northward migration, in March, afforded us some excellent 

 sport. 



I saw two Pratincoles {Glareola pratincola) towards the 

 end of March near the native village south of Ismailia. 

 This species was not observed east of Alexandria and Cairo 

 by Captain Boyd. 



A pair of Stone-Curlews (^CEdicnemns sp. ?) had a nest 

 containing two eggs in the desert near the point at which 

 the Canal enters Lake Timsah from the north, and I saw the 

 birds there frequently. When riding along the bank of the 

 Freshwater Canal I also observed several pairs of Pied King- 

 fishers [Ceryle rudis) which were almost certainly nesting. 



The Hoopoe {Upujja epops) was seen once or twice among 

 the trees near Ismailia. Redshank (Tetanus calidris) were 

 often heard calling on the mud-flats in the Lake. 



Yours truly, 



B. E. P., France, T. N. Kennedy, Capt. R.A. 



7 November, 1917. 



