128 Captain John S. Reeve—Some Birds in Egypt and Palestine



have been the common Grey Crane. I was informed by the Swiss who

kept the shooting lodge where we stayed at Chakchouk on Lake Karoun

that a flock of Flamingos and Pelicans were on the lake last November,

for six weeks. At Chakchouk I handled a Rock Pigeon which had

been shot; the rump was a very light grey. Palm Doves were common

from Cairo to Assouan, and in the Fayoum ; they were always in the

Hotel and other gardens.


I took a small flock of birds on some rough ground near the Temple

of Denderah to be Stone Curlew ; they got up and skimmed over the

hillocks and I tried to find them again, but for fear of losing my party

going into the Temple I failed to do so. Ringed Plover at Lake Karoun,

and in a canal near Luxor, I could never get near enough to say if they

were this species or the Little Ringed, or Kitlitz Plover. Some I saw

at Ezbet near Cairo, Russell Pasha told me he thought were Kitlitz.


Odd Green Plover were seen up the Nile valley and in the Fayoum,

and the handsome Spur-winged Plover was common in the latter,

where I could easily have shot some, and a saw a few up the Nile.


I heard Redshank at Ezbet, and saw several at Lake Karoun where

I shot three.


A few Green Sandpiper got up singly out of the ditches in the

Fayoum and up the Nile valley.


Black-tailed Godwit were seen on the wing at Ezbet, and Common

Snipe were shot there.


A flock of Gulls on Lake Karoun I could not identify, but from

studying Nicoll thought they might be the Great Black-headed. I saw

a Moorhen or two on a village pond near Cairo and Coot were numerous

at Ezbet, several on Lake Karoun and a few on the Sacred Lake

Karnak.



Palestine


As our train climbed up to Jerusalem on the pouring wet morning

of Sunday, 7th February, a good covey of Partridges got up from

close to the line, and I presume they can only have been Chukar ;

on the following morning they were snow-balling in the streets of

Jerusalem ! The Corvidae are well represented in Palestine ; I saw

Raven, Brown-necked and Fan-tailed Raven, and Hooded Crows ;



