208 THE ZOOLOGIST, 



BIRDS SEEN IN EGYPT IN DECEMBER, JANUARY, 

 AND FEBRUARY. 



By Floka Russell. 



These notes may be of interest as showing what an ordinary 

 tourist with good field-glasses may see. I landed at Port Said 

 on the 11th December, 1904, was in Cairo from the 12th to the 

 29th ; spent four days in the Fayum, went up the Nile by steamer 

 to Wadi Haifa, stopped a few days at Assuan and Luxor, and 

 another fortnight at Cairo before leaving Egypt on Feb. 27th. 



Anyone who has read Shelley's ' Birds of Egypt,' and re- 

 members his constant observation of " a very abundant species 

 everywhere," will be much disappointed when he first arrives in 

 the country. But when he remembers the enormous increase of 

 steamers on the Nile in the last thirty years (Shelley's book was 

 published in 1873), he will be glad that he saw the river before 

 it was quite depopulated of birds. 



At Port Said a few Mediterranean Herring- Gulls (Larus 

 cachinnans) flew about the harbour. In Cairo the Egyptian Kite 

 (Milvus cegyptius) was the most striking bird. Scores were always 

 in sight, swooping over the roofs, and resting on the telegraph- 

 poles and chimneys. They are abundant all the way up the 

 river to Wadi Haifa, and one is soon familiar with their shrill 

 but pleasing note. The Hooded Crow (Corvus comix) was as 

 common in the streets as along the mud-banks of the Nile. The 

 House-Sparrow (Passer domesticus) was abundant; the boats 

 loaded with grain were thickly covered with them. The White 

 Wagtail (Motacilla alba) was to be seen everywhere ; they con- 

 stantly came on to our steamer in search of crumbs. 



At Gizeh Zoological Gardens there is a pond where many 

 Wild Ducks join the tame ones. I saw Teal (Nettion crecca) and 

 Shovelers (Spatula clypeata) in December, and in February many 

 Pintails (Dafila acuta), Mallard (Anas boscas), and a few Wigeons 

 (Mareca penelope). In the middle of February they were begin- 

 ning to diminish in numbers. The majority seemed to be 



