Boros István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 51. (Budapest 1959)
Horváth, L.: The results of the zoological collecting trip to Egypt in 1957, of the Natural History Museum, Budapest 7. The ornithological results
Other species were observed in conditions which refer to the enlargement of their ranges. E. g., I observed, indeed, I collected a species known only from the coastline 300 km away from the sea. Other sight records or baggings indicate the hitherto unknown courses of migration of northeastern Asiatic birds. Only the detailed enumeration of the species can adequately illustrate the increase of our knowledge regarding faunistics and ecology, rendered by the three months research trip. To ensure an easy survey of the specific appraisal in the body of the recent paper, it is indispensable to give an outline of our route. Our arrival in Alexandria on 2 September was followed by a week spent in the city, necessitated by official and administrative tasks. Besides these agenda, there was still time to observe birds daily in the city, in its adjoining areas, on the seacoast and in the larger parks. On our way from Alexandria to Cairo on 9 September, I could make my sight records but from our car. Our route acros the Delta still gave a rather good survey of the bird life of this area. From 10 September till 5 October, I made observations in Cairo and in its vicinity. The collecting trip itself and the period when I had my rifles, began on 6 October and lasted till 7 November, From 8 November till 22 November, I made my records again in Cairo and in its neighbourhood. On 23 November, we returned by the so-called desert-road to Alexandria, where we stayed from 24 till 29 November. Some of the most important stays along our route in Egypt were the following : Alexandria —Damanhur —Rozetta —Tanta — Benha —Delta Barrage —Cairo (Gizeh, Abu Rawash, Mena, Saqqara, Memphis, Helwan) — Kom Oshim oasis, the Fayum (Lake Karun) — Sids —Mallawi —Charfa —Asyut —Sohag — El Balyana —Abydos —Nag Hammadi —Qena —Karnak—Luxor —Thebes —Esna —El Deir — Silsilia —Kom Ombo —Aswan —Shellal —Bir Abbad oasis —Marsa el 'Alam —Quseir —Bir Safaga —Hurghada —Suez —Heliopolis —Cairo —Lake Natrun —Mariut. lagunes —Alexandria. As is to be seen from a survey of the above localities, we followed the valley of the Nile up to the big dam of Aswan, with some smaller or larger detours into the desert. On the way back, we again travelled along the Nile up to the latitude of Idfu, where we crossed the Arab Desert along about lat. 25°, to the coast of the Red Sea ; then, following the coastline to the North, we again crossed the desert between Suez and Cairo. Starting from the Capital, we traversed the Lybian Desert to the Wadi Natrun, to finally visit the Mariut lagunes. In the annotated systematical list given below, I followed the classification of MackworthPraed et Grant (11) ; as regards, however, nomenclature, I aligned myself with the most recent issue of the book of Witherby et al. (19), in the respect of species included in it, that is, the avifauna of Great Britain. Black-necked Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis nigricollis Brehm) I observed about 30 specimens in a somewhat loose flock, or dispersedly, between the village of Shakshuk settled on the southern coast of the Lake Karun and the island El Arn, that is, on the N side of the same isle. With regard to the fact that it departs from Hungary in the period between the beginning of September and November, the specimens noted here could hardly have been of a European origin, rather they must have belonged to the much nearer populations breeding in Cyprus or the Palestine. This observation will also support the general rule concerning migration that the southern populations of the species migrate earlier in the fall and do not move so far south as the more northern populations. Of the four collected specimens in an autumnal plumage, one was a male, the other three were females. Mediterranean Shearwater (Puffinus kuhlii kuhlii Boie) Three specimens noted in Alexandria on 2 September. White Pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus L.) I sighted a flock of about 1000 specimens in a backwater of the Nile at Nag Hammadi on 21 October, and about 350 specimens on another inundated area of the Nile on 22 October.
