152 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 
but though we tried two or three times to shoot them from 
the Diabeyha, we never got a specimen ; and I am undecided 
whether to set them all down as the Isabelline Goatsucker 
or not. I was inclined at the time to think that some of 
them were the English one, which is larger. 
%43. COMMON SwIFT, Cyselus apus, (Linn.). 
As it was a great point to establish this as Egyptian, I 
kept a sharp look-out among the thousands of pale Swifts. 
Near Gebel Silsilis, on the 29th of March, I had the great 
good fortune to see one and obtain it, but it was the only 
one we ever fell in with. 
44. PALE EGYPTIAN SwIFT, Cypselus pallidus, Shelley. 
First seen near the Barrage on the 14th of February. On 
the 26th, I shot one on the top of a mountain at the 
‘Massara stone quarries, but it was not until April that we 
really saw them in great numbers. It seems incredible that 
a portion of the hundreds of great flocks which were then 
pressing north should not go beyond Egypt. The mouth 
of one shot at Esné was crammed with small insects.* 
45. ORIENTAL SWALLOW, Hirundo savignit (Steph.) ; 
Al, riocourtt Audouin. 
“Hasfur El Genneh,” i.e, The Bird of Paradise. 
Is one of the most abundant native birds in the north of 
Egypt. Numbers of them any day may be seen skimming 
® The White-rumped or Galilean Swift is not an unlikely species to be 
found in Egypt. It is the Cypselus affints of Gray. Mr. Dresser 
states that it is non-migratory and very local. It has a white rump, 
and at first sight might be mistaken for a House Martin, 
