58 EGYPTIAN BIRDS 
beating wings. In the early morning they were 
out again, but during the middle of the day they 
were rarely if ever to be seen. By the end of 
November there were but few, and when I returned 
after Christmas there was hardly one to be seen. 
About the middle of January I saw flocks of them 
again at Karnak, which is only just on the other 
side of the river. 
Shelley seems to speak of the Common Swift as 
rare, and he is most probably right, but I have no 
doubt whatever of the identity of those I saw in 
the neighbourhood of Thebes at that particular 
time. The Swift that really breeds here is the Pale 
Swift, which, instead of being almost black all over 
like the Common Swift, has a more or less uniform 
greyish-brown plumage, and is considerably smaller ; 
Shelley says two inches. 
In the report of the Giza Zoological Society on 
the wild birds that have been observed in the 
gardens, both species of Swifts are noticed as 
having occurred there, and it is probable that both 
kinds are spread over the whole of Egypt. Why 
it is not generally noticed is because, as has been 
said, it flies out rather late, and keeps to great 
heights, never within my own experience flying as 
at home a foot or so above the ground. 
