The Bird of Egi/pt states that this species is a 'rare and irregular winter 
visitor, mainly to the north of the country/ This is therefore not only a 
late date for the species to be recorded in the country but also the most 
southerly locality, though there are two previous October records farther 
north in the Gulf of Suez. 
Derek J Evans, British International School, PO Box 137, Gezira, Zamalek, Cairo, 
Egypt 
A Nile Valley Sunbird nest in Egypt 
From the early weeks of 1989, Nile Valley Sunbirds Anthreptes metallicus 
were present in the garden of Mrs Jane Bowman's villa at Giza, near 
Cairo, Egypt. Up to three males squabbled territorially up to 3 March, 
and thereafter a pair were present with the pendulate nest 2.2m high in 
the centre of a flowering shrub completed by 10 May. 
From this date, the female sat on the nest while the male was frequently 
vocally aggressive to all intruders. I saw the female on the nest on 27 
May. Soon afterwards, the nest was found hanging limply, wrecked and 
torn. 
An unfledged juvenile was dangling from the nest by synthetic thread 
entangled in its bill and gape. The gardener said that two young had 
successfully fledged but this could not be confirmed. He also thought 
that the nest had been destroyed by a cat. 
According the The Birds of Egypt, Nile Valley Sunbirds are a scarce 
breeding species as far north as Cairo, where they are mainly a non- 
breeding visitor, but newly fledged young were present in Giza and 
Zamalek in late September 1986. 
The record is interesting both because of the scarcity of confirmed 
breeding records so far north and because of the amount of synthetic 
material used in the construction of the nest. Shreds of nylon string were 
common in the body of the nest. Other materials used in the construction 
of the nest were animal hair, wool, string made of natural fibres and leaf, 
twig and seed-pod material. 
Derek f Evans, British International School, PO Box 137, Gezira, Zamalek, Cairo, 
^gypt 
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