22 
only recently that they have become mature and thus suitable for breeding 
Sparrowhawks . Their prey consists of local woodland and garden birds that 
come not only from the woods but also from the nearby agricultural 
settlements. A comprehensive survey and ecological study of the 
Sparrowhawk in Israel which is planned for the next few years will 
hopefully tell us more about this successful species. 
References 
Cramp, S. & Simmons, K. E. L. (eds). 1980. The Birds of the Western 
Palearctic, Vol.2. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 
Paz, U. 1987. The Birds of Israel. Christopher Helm, London. 
Dr Ron Frumkin, Israel Ornithological Centre, SPNI, 4 Hashfela St., 
Tel-Aviv 66183, Israel. 
Menahem Adar, Carmel Coast FSC, SPNI, Ma'agan Mikhael, Doar-Na Menashe 
37805, Israel. 
MORE ON CRANES IN EGYPT Ted Flaxmsn 
Following on from my note in OSME Bulletin 19 about Cranes Grus grus in 
Wadi Natrun, Egypt, I was able to visit the area again on 11 March 1989 
and observed two large flocks. Once again, I visited the area with Ali 
Hamdy in his four-wheel-drive vehicle. We drove to the northern end of 
Che series of salt lakes where at a small tented encampment we picked up a 
Bedouin who said that there had been Cranes in the area the day before. 
This Bedouin guided us westward for about 5 km to a large sandy wadi bed 
with scattered small scrub: here there were very recent footprints of 
Cranes, particularly concentrated around every scrap of vegetation. The 
area over which we saw the footprints was at least 1 km long. Either a 
considerable flock had been there or a smaller number of Cranes had been 
there long enough to have visited every possible piece of food in sight. 
We then travelled westwards (approximately) for at least another 20 km and 
saw Crane footprints once again towards the end of this part of the trip. 
We then turned south, drove for perhaps 5 km and then turned east so that 
we covered a substantial triangle of desert. By 16.30 we were within 
about 5 km of the point where we had picked up the Bedouin and were 
beginning to fear that we were not to see any Cranes when we spotted a 
flock of about 250 gliding down to the northwest. We drove onto a small 
knoll and through our binoculars watched the birds settle on a gravelly 
area which looked quite barren. 
