we? ZOOLOGILS fT 
No. 848.—February 15th, 1912. 

THE BIRDS OF LOWER EGYPT. 
By C. B. Ticrnurst, M.A., M.R.C.S., M.B.0.U. 
Many people have been to Lower Egypt, and have noted the 
ornithology of that interesting place, and yet it has struck me 
that really not a great deal is known at any rate about the 
breeding birds there, since most Englishmen who have studied 
the avifauna at all have done so either in the winter or early 
spring. As Mr. Nicoll has begun, in the ‘Ibis,’ a series of 
admirable papers on the ornithology of various parts of the 
Delta, in the hope, as he says, that they may be of some use to 
anyone who, at some future date, may collect all the material 
obtainable for a revised work on the Birds of Egypt, I have 
thought that perhaps my few notes also should be recorded for 
the same purpose, especially as my visit occurred after the 
beginning of the breeding season. Unfortunately, I was only 
in Keypt a very short time, viz. April 28th to May 19th, 1909, 
the first fortnight of which I was staying at the Giza Gardens, 
the last week on the shores of Lake Mariotis, at Alexandria. 
Perhaps the fact that I devoted the whole three weeks entirely 
to birds made up to some extent for the shortness of my stay. 
From the following notes it must not be inferred that, 
because I have not recorded any one species, it was not 
there ; most of the spring migration had passed through when 
I arrived, and so I missed many species, some by only a few 
days, and, as time was very limited, there are naturally many 
resident birds which I did not happen to come across. 
My best thanks are due to Capt. Flower and M. J. Nicoll, 
Hsq., of the Giza Gardens, and Raymond Clarke, Esq., of 
Zool. 4th ser. vol. XVI., February, 1912. E 
