Letters, Notes, i^-c. 353 



British Birds ' is in course of preparation, and, when ready, 

 will doubtless be used by all writers in this Journal. — 

 Edd.] 



Sirs, — For some time past I have been engaged in writing 

 the Life of Sir AVilliam Jardine, the naturalist. 



Would you be so good as to insert this letter in your 

 Journal, in the hope that, if it catches the eye of anyone 

 who might be able to assist me, either by letters from 

 Sir William Jardine or from personal acquaintance, they 

 would communicate with me ? 



Yours &c., 



Hugh S. Gladstone. 



Capenocb, Thornbill, Dumfriesshire, 

 March 12th, 1912. 



The Birds of Sinai. — At the Anniversary Meeting of the 

 German Ornithological Society held at Eberswalde, in 

 Prussia, in October last, Herr Graf von Zedlitz gave an 

 account, as we learn from the ' Journal f iir Ornithologie,^ of 

 his recent visit to the Sinaitic Peninsula. He remarked that 

 the district, from an ornithological point of view, had been 

 comparatively little explored. In 1898 Professor Koenig, 

 of Bonn, went there, but his bird-collection has not yet 

 been worked out. The starting-point of Graf von Zedlitz's 

 journey Avas El-Tor. From there he went towards the moun- 

 tain-range, which was crossed from west to east. A full 

 report of his journey will be published by the traveller, but a 

 few short details maybe mentioned. The genera Cercomela, 

 Pycnonotus, AmmoperdiXj and a species of Pigeon very similar 

 to Columba schimperi, might be regarded as characteristic 

 birds of Sinai. Sylvia rueppelli lives in the tamarisks, 

 Scotocerca inquieta (newly fledged young of which were 

 found as early as April) spends its days in the rough bush, 

 and Phylloscopus bonellii 07'ientalis nests in the smaller shrubs. 



