VOL. xiv] REVIEW. 69 



P- 939) states that it appears irregularly in Egypt and only during the 

 winter months ; is commonest on the coast near Pelusium, and that 

 he saw some females from the bird market at Alexandria. Yet this 

 species is entirely omitted ; while, on the other hand. Eitpodotis arabs 

 is included, although no Egyptian specimen is in existence, and the 

 sole evidence of its occurrence rests on descriptions of birds seen and 

 reported to Mr. Nicoll by unnamed observers ! Von Heuglin could 

 scarcely have been mistaken when he states that the Velvet Scoter 

 only occurs casually in winter on the lagoons of Lower Egypt, and that 

 most of those seen by him were immature birds, j-et this species is 

 omitted entirely from the Handlist, while, on the other hand, the 

 Crested Coot, which was never personally met with by Shelley, and 

 only recorded by him en the evidence of an imnamed resident as 

 " abundant during the inundations," is included, as is also the Scaup, 

 on precisely similar evidence to that on which the Velvet Scoter is 

 omitted . 



The Red-breasted Merganser is included on the ground that Howard 

 Saunders mentions Egypt as a country where it has occurred, but this 

 statement is evidently based on von Heuglin's notice of a female 

 obtained by Dr. Clot and now in the Leyden Museum {Orn. N.O. 

 Afyika's, p. 1353). The evidence on which Sylvia undata is included 

 and 5. sarda omitted seems to us of about equal value. A reference 

 to von Heuglin's article on the Sacred Ibis shows that he did not defi- 

 nitely record it as a breeding species at Wadi Haifa, as stated by Mr. 

 Nicoll (p. 68), but merely states his belief that it breeds in the Nile 

 Valley northwards to this place, and that he received young still in 

 down from Batn el Hadjar, Sukot and Donquola. There is also a record 

 of a specimen obtained at Qata in the Delta in 1864. Mr. Nicoll 

 cannot have read von Heuglin's article on the Herring-Gull or, he would 

 not have stated that he " evidently confused this Gull with the Medi- 

 terranean species {sic !)," and a full aci ount of the breeding of the 

 White-tailed Eagle in the Behereh {Lake Mcnzala) is given by the 

 same writer (p. 52), who obtained a couple of almost fresh eggs there, 

 apparently in March. We believe that the Eastern Pied Chat, (Enanthe 

 ■pleschanka pleschanka (recorded by Mr. Nicoll as " Saxicola morio ") 

 is a n gular visitor on migration, and that Mr. W. Raw, w^ho obtained 

 the specimen in the Giza Museum, subsequently secured other examples. 



No mention is made of the Cirl Bunting, of which a specimen was 

 obtained by Schroder, and the Mistle-Thrush recorded by both 

 Schroder and Captain Boyd is also omitted. 



Space will not permit our going into further detail, but it is clear 

 that while we are glad to welcome this new list and fully recognize 

 the good work which has been done by the author and his fellow-workers 

 in bringing the Egyptian list up to date, there is still room for improve- 

 ment and we trust in a future edition to see many of the defects of the 

 present work eliminated. There is, however, one point which demands 

 a few words. Mr. Nicoll states that as regards nomenclature he has 

 used the names which seemed " most suitable and easily understood." 

 We have searched in vain for any imderlying principle in this selection. 

 Here and there the author incorporates the results of Dr. Hartert's 

 latest researches. We wonder how many of Mr. Nicoll's readers 

 would recognize " Corviis rhipidnrus " at sight, without the aid of the 

 English equivalent ! The use of such names as Phoenicurus ochrurus 

 gihraltariensis, Alerops orientalis cleopatra and the prominence given to 

 subspecific forms would suggest that Mr. Nicoll has based his nomen- 

 clature on that of Hartert's Vogel d. Pal. Fauna, if it were not that 



