58 EGYPTIAN BIRDS 



beating wings. In the early morning they were 

 out again, but during the middle of the day they 

 were rarely if ever to be seen. By the end of 

 November there were but few, and when I returned 

 after Christmas there was hardly one to be seen. 

 About the middle of January I saw flocks of them 

 again at Karnak, which is only just on the other 

 side of the river. 



Shelley seems to speak of the Common Swift as 

 rare, and he is most probably right, but I have no 

 doubt whatever of the identity of those I saw in 

 the neighbourhood of Thebes at that particular 

 time. The Swift that really breeds here is the Pale 

 Swift, which, instead of being almost black all over 

 like the Common Swift, has a more or less uniform 

 greyish -brown plumage, and is considerably smaller ; 

 Shelley says two inches. 



In the report of the Giza Zoological Society on 

 the wild birds that have been observed in the 

 gardens, both species of Swifts are noticed as 

 having occurred there, and it is probable that both 

 kinds are spread over the whole of Egypt. Why 

 it is not generally noticed is because, as has been 

 said, it flies out rather late, and keeps to great 

 heights, never within my own experience flying as 

 at home a foot or so above the ground. 



