534 ORNITHOLOGICAL SKETCHES. 



shows how far into the interior this bird goes for its 

 winter-quarters. When I left Egypt, at the end of March, 

 the Bee-eaters had not yet appeared ; but I heard from a 

 friend that three days after my departure they had arrived 

 in swarms, and that the greatest number had been seen in the 

 Shubra gardens not far from the town. A few days later, in 

 the first week of April, I had repeated opportunities of ob- 

 serving these birds in the valley of the Jordan, where paired 

 couples were hovering about the high crumbling earthy 

 banks of the streams, while the many nest-holes indicated 

 that colonies of them bred there every year. 



The Roller (Coracias garrula) was not observed in Africa; 

 but in the valley of the Jordan I saw a good many, almost 

 all, paired couples. They generally frequented the same 

 breeding-places as the Bee-eaters, and lived in company with 

 them. 



I was lying in wait for jackals in the rocky valley of Mar- 

 Saba, below the monastery, when, soon after sunset, I noticed 

 some birds flitting like butterflies along the cliffs, and at times 

 climbing up the bare rocks and disappearing one after another 

 into the clefts and crannies to sleep. Having often observed 

 the Wall-creeper (Ticliodroma muraria) in the Alps, and 

 knowing its appearance perfectly, as well as its characteristic 

 habit of coming- every evening to a particular cliff, where, 

 after a few flying and running manoeuvres, it seeks its 

 rest, I was sure that these birds were Wall-Creepers ; but, 

 though the cliff was not far from my post, the increasing 

 darkness prevented by seeing the colours of their plumage. 



