14 Col. R. Meinertzhagen on Birch from [Ibis, 



tlio first lialf o£ April. A few stragglers may be seen 

 later. 



On the eastern coast of Africa spring passage seems to 

 be slightly later — from 20. iii. to 16. iv. Birds have been 

 shot in Abyssinia as late as 31. iv. and in Sinai from l.iv. 

 to 22. iv. 



On autumn passage the birds of the year appear to leave 

 first and they certainly arrive first in the tropics, the first 

 adults not being seen till December or January in Kenya 

 Colony. 



On spring passage on the coast of eastern Africa, the bulk 

 of the first birds to move are old males, and the bulk of the 

 late migrants are females. In Egypt all the first spring- 

 passage migrants are males. 



Monticola solitarius L. 



All spring migrants through Egypt belong to the eastern 

 race transcaspicus (8 examined). A winter (January) bird 

 from Solium in western Egypt is of the same race. Winter 

 visitors to Palestine are transcaspicus and AI. s. solitarius. 



I have not been able to examine authentic breeding birds 

 from Palestine or Egypt : the breeding race in Crete is 

 M. s. solitarins. Winter l)irds to Somaliland are the typical 

 race. 



(Enanthe cenanthe (L.). 



I have lecently examined the series of Common Wheat- 

 ears in the Tring collection, including the supposed races 

 argentea and rostrata. Mr. Witherby also very kindly lent 

 me four breeding males from Portugal and three from the 

 Sierra Nevada in Spain. In addition to these, 38 Egyptian 

 passage migrants in the Giza Zoological Museum, 12 col- 

 lected by myself in Syria and Palestine, and 19 winter 

 visitors to eastern Africa. 



I have not included in the following remarks the races 

 virago from Crete^ seebohmi from Algeria and Morocco, 

 leucorrhoa from Greenland, or p^nllipsi (which I believe to 

 be a race of (E. amanthe) from Somaliland. 



