194. RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 
birds from Buhoma. They were stated to have been taken 
about the 2nd of June. 
Eleven out of the sixteen skins brought home by us were 
females. They are gayer. than the males, but the males 
have a more handsomely mottled wing. In Savigny’s book 
there is a good picture of a male with its wings spread to 
show the spotting. 
148. RuFF, Machetes pugnax (Linn.). 
We did not get the Ruff in the Delta; indeed it was not 
until we got to Siout that one was shot, out of a small flock, 
on the Bar-Joseph. In April, when we were higher up the 
Nile, some very large flocks were seen upon migration—in 
particular one flock upon the sand-banks at Erment. Several 
times also these birds were seen in fields. Some of the 
males which we shot were changing colour, but I never 
could distinguish any with a symptom of a ruff even in the 
largest flock. They evidently throw it out with great 
rapidity. According to Montagu it is scarcely completed 
in May (Ornith. Dict. Suppl.). At the Faioum in’ June I 
saw some flocks of Reeves, but whether they breed in 
Egypt is not at present ascertained. 
149. CURLEW, Numenius arquatus (Linn.). 
None were shot, though they were frequently seen. The 
birdstuffer at Alexandria, however, had a specimen. 
150. SLENDER-BILLED CURLEW, Numenius tenuirostris, 
Vieill. 
I include this with some hesitation, as no specimen was 
shot, though I believe some were seen both in the Delta 
and in Upper Egypt. 
