110 Captain Clark Kennedy on the Avifauna 
close to tlie Tern, and in another second S. caspia fonnd his 
last resting-place in the capacious belly of a large shark! 
Our camels were all ready for ns on the 21st, when we got 
to Suez; but a strong Khamseer wind blew all day, which 
prevented onr starting for the “ wells of Moses ” until the 
following day. I noticed a small number of Phalacrocorax 
carbo in Suez harbour,, but saw few birds excepting the com¬ 
moner Gulls, Terns, and Hawks. At half-past ten the next 
morning we found ourselves in Asia, having quitted Africa 
by crossing the Red Sea near the spot where the children of 
Israel went over. Mounting our camels, we set out on the 
first stage of our desert journey ; and being now truly in the 
peninsula of Sinai, my notes on the birds observed by us 
commence. 
Our route, after spending a month in the desert, and stay¬ 
ing some days at Mount Sinai, was via Nukhl, to Jerusalem; 
then, having visited the Dead Sea and valley of the Jordan, 
we rode throughout the whole length of the Holy Land to 
Damascus, thence to Beyrout, which we left on the 10th 
of May for Constantinople. Thus the birds in the following 
list were met with between March 22nd and May 10th, 1870. 
1. Vultur monachus (Linn.). Black Vulture. 
I met with this species very sparingly in the desert, and 
found it most abundant close to the convent of Sinai. I also 
saw a few of them in Southern Palestine; but I should call 
them rare in that country. 
2. Gyps fulvus (Gm.). Griffon Vulture. 
When resting upon the summit of Jebel Musa, where God 
is said to have given the tables of the law to Moses, we noticed 
one pair of the Griffon soaring far above in the blue sky, but 
could distinguish them well with an opera-glass. This was 
on March 30th, and was the only time I met with this species, 
never seeing it in Palestine. 
3. Neophron percnopterus (L.). Egyptian Vulture. 
One of the commonest of birds in the Sinaitic desert, and 
almost as numerous in some places here as in Egypt itself. 
Around the convent of Sinai there were a great many of them; 
