522 ORNITHOLOGICAL SKETCHES 



our ill-stocked larder, and there I even found fledged birds 

 of the year. 



73. (EDICNEMUS CREPITANS. Stone-Curlew. 



The Stone-Curlew occurs throughout Egypt in suitable 

 localities, old walls near water being its favourite resorts. I 

 found a great many of them in the ruins of an ancient mosque 

 at Cairo. There, as well as in most of the Egyptian towns, 

 its monotonous cry is nightly heard. It even inhabits the 

 upper part of the well-preserved Shu bra palace in consider- 

 able numbers. It also dwells among large stones and bare 

 rocks near water, on the island in the lake of Birket-el-Karun 

 for example. On the Nile it frequents the sandy islands that 

 are sparingly covered with bushes. In Palestine we saw a 

 pair on the barren mountains above the Dead Sea, and a flock 

 or' more than ten on the steppe near the Jordan. Unless we 

 made a special search for this bird we seldom met with it, but 

 as soon as it began to get dark we heard its call almost nightly, 

 both in Egypt and Palestine. 



74. CHETTUSIA LEUCURA. White-tailed Plover. 



Some of these beautiful birds were observed on the shores of 

 Lake Birket-el-Karun. 



75. HOPLOPTERUS SPINOSUS. Spur-winged Plover. 



From Alexandria to Assuan in all suitable localities near 

 water. On the banks of the Nile especially one sees great 

 numbers of these handsome birds every day ; also on fields, 

 meadows, and sandbanks, in gardens, by pools and canals, 

 it may be observed either singly or in flocks of as many as 

 twenty or even more. It is not shy, and one could slaughter 

 a hundred in a few days. 



