636 
Col. R. Meinertzhagen on Birds from [Ibis, 
typical nigricans . Others from Cairo resemble nigricans in 
the breast-spotting, but the back is typical maculata. Birds 
shot between Caliub and Benha (north of Cairo) begin to 
approach nigricans. In size similar to nigricans. 
Average for the wing of sixty males 102 mm. (max. 108, 
min. 98). Average for twenty-seven females 95*5 mm. 
(max. 101, min. 92). Culmen of males 19-21 and of females 
18-20 mm. 
This is the characteristic race on the outer fringe of the 
Egyptian Delta (never occurring in the desert, and some¬ 
times occurring 20 miles within the Delta). It does not occur 
as a breeding species much east of Lake Mariotis or in the 
vicinity of the Suez Canal. It ranges far down the Nile from 
about ten miles north of Cairo to Wadi Haifa, where it meets 
altirostris (= nubica Bianchi). 
In winter, birds apparently wander to the Suez Canal. 
A male from Sohag, shot on 21 September (on the Nile 
south of Helouan), has its upper parts identical with 
hrachyura , though its under parts resemble maculata. 
Galerida cristata mceritica Nicoll & Bonhote. 
60 birds examined from the Fayoum. This race shows 
a more marked constancy in its colouring than any other 
race under review. It is very near maculata , and has not 
got a longer wing as stated by Nicoll (‘Ibis, 5 1914, p. 546). 
Neither is it distinguishable from maculata by the paler 
coloration of the upper parts, though about 20 per cent, of 
the birds examined have a paler back than typical maculata. 
About the same proportion of birds have whiter under parts 
than maculata. The breast-spotting is similar to that in 
maculata, and is often more clear-cut. But not one of 
the differences is appreciable, nor could the separation 
of the bird as a geographical form be justified. 
But there is a good and almost constant difference in the 
feathers on the lesser upper wing-coverts. In this race they 
are silvery-brown, whereas in maculata there is never any 
trace of this silvery colour on the lesser upper wing-coverts. 
It is a very slight difference, but being almost constant 
within a definite area, we must accept the subspecies. 
