Birds noticed daring a Voyage to Alexandria. 741 



small parties of lialf a dozen. Its flight is very rapid and 

 straight, and the cry is clear and sharp and often repeated, 

 especially when on the wing. It feeds principally on berries 

 and wild fruit, and I have noticed that it drinks regularly, 

 usually about noon. 



The soft parts are: — Irides pale yellow; bill, upper 

 mandible blackish^ lower pearly ; legs and toes slaty.] 



[To be continued.] 



XXIX. — On the Birds noticed during a Voyage to Alexandria. 

 By Claud B. Ticehurst, M.A., M.R.C.S., M.B.O.U. 



Ix the spring of 1909 I went by a slow passenger-steamer 

 to Alexandria. As there are not a great number of papers 

 dealing with bird-life seen at sea and in the neighbourhood 

 of the ports of call, I think that it may be worth while to put 

 on record the names of such species as I came across, especi- 

 ally as I was on the look out the whole time, and kept careful 

 notes of those that I met with. Short calls of a few hours 

 were made at Gibraltar, Algiers, and Malta, and nearly all 

 the time available at these places was devoted to studying 

 the bird-life of the neighbourhood. 



I left Liverpool on April the 13th, 1909, in the s.s. 'Menes.' 

 In the Mersey were noted Lesser Black- backed Gulls and 

 Herring-Gulls, both adult and immature, and some Common 

 Gulls. Tiie next day, as we went down the Welsh coast, 

 Herring-Gulls, Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and Kittiwakes 

 followed the ship the whole day, and these were almost all 

 adult birds ; two adult Gannets were also seen. At dusk 

 about a dozen Manx Shearwaters appeared from the west 

 flying in towards land. Had these birds come from the Irisii 

 coast, or had they been resting on the sea during the day ? 

 On the loth, we were out of sight of land after leaving the 

 Scdly Islands at 3 a.m., and birds were scarce; a few adult 

 and immature Great Black-backed Gulls {Larus marinus) and 

 Puffins vere all that were seen, except a large Skua in the 



SER. IX. — VOL. V. 3 D 



