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NOTES ON BIRDS COLLECTED BY E. M. YOUNG, ESQ,, 

 In the vicinity of the Nile and in Palestine. 



By E. B. Sharpe. 



Tlie birds wliicli farm tlie subject of tbe present paper, were collected 

 by Mr. Young, during Ms trip to tlie East, in the winter of 1863 and the 

 early ]3art of 1864, and he has kindly allowed me to describe them. Although 

 the hst does not contain many birds, and few rarities, I feel great pleasure 

 in presenting to the readers of the Naturalist, a description which may 

 enable them to distinguish the species, should they at any time meet with 

 any of them. In preparing this description, I have referred to the Rev. H. 

 B. Tristram's paper on the Birds of Palestine, (Proc. Z. S. 1864.) Bonaparte's 

 Conspectus and other works. Mr. Gould's works on the Birds of Europe 

 and Asia, have also been of the utmost service in helping me to distinguish 

 the species, and Mr. Young has supplied me with many valuable notes ^ which 

 I think, cannot fail to make the paper most interesting. It will be noticed 

 that a few of the birds are met with in the British Islands,but none of them 

 can be considered as common. Falco yEsalon, Gm., and Upupa ejoopSyTjin., are 

 both occasional visitants, and of the other Sylvia tithys, Scop., and Lanius Cdl- 

 lur io, Boie., are sometimes, though not often observed. As collecting specimens 

 did not form the object of Mr. Young's visit, the variety of species obtained 

 was not great, but in most cases, a pair, and sometimes more of each bird 

 was shot j and the skins, though slightly crushed in their transmission to 

 England, were well preserved, and I was easily enabled to identify them. 



1. BuTBO AUGUR, RUpp. — l^ortli African Buzzard. 



Falco augur, Rupp. 



Falco hydrophilus, Riipp. 



It was some time before I could determine this species, but I found a 

 specimen in the British Museum. I thought it might be B. rufinusy 

 Riipp, but on comparing the specimen with that in the British Museum, 

 I have discovered it to be Buteo augur. These birds may generally be seen 

 in Egypt, wheeling above the abodes of man, more often out of shot than 

 within it. Egypt is peculiarly the home of Rapaces of many kinds. — A 

 recent murrain among the buffaloes had strewn the banks of the JSTile in 1863 



