BIRDS OF S EJS TA 2V. G93 



50. The Little Ckake. (1392) Porzana parva. 



I expect this bird must be numerous in the dense reeds and rushes forming 

 the Naizars. I have, however, seen only one specimen (a female), which was 

 brought to me on the 6th September 1004. 



51. The Purple Moorhen. (1404) Porphyrio poliocepkalus. 



(Persian, Bistuni.) 



Numerous in the dense reeds and rushes of the Naizars, where the water 

 is shallow, but it is very rarely seen. It is a permanent resident in Seistan. On 

 13th June 1904, Lala Thakurdass, Irrigation Surveyor attached to the Mission, 

 sent me a young live bird, about six weeks old. He also obtained two full- 

 grown live birds at Koh-i-Khwaja in January 1905, which took very kindly 

 to captivity and stalked about freely with some poultry kept by the Mission 

 boatmen. 



52. The Coot. (1405) Fulica atra. (Persian, Chor.) 



Very numerous both in the reeds and rushes of the Naizars and on the 

 open stretches of water forming the Hamuns. It is a good swimmer and diver, 

 and is to be seen, at times, in large flocks congregating with duck of all sorts. 

 The Coot is a permanent resident and breeds in the Naizars. Lala Thakurdass, 

 Irrigation Surveyor, on 14th March 1904 found several of their nests 

 near Adimi, and brought in three. Two of these contained nine eggs 

 each, and the other eight. Some of the eggs were fairly well incubated, 

 while the others were fresh. The nests, which were huge masses of dry 

 rushes, were not found floating on the surface of the water, but were supported 

 about 2 feet above the surface by the dense reeds in which they were placed and 

 which grew there in water about 7 feet deep. 



53. The Demoiselle Crane. (1411) Anthropoides virgo. 



A specimen of this Crane, the only one secured by this Mission that I am 

 aware of, was shot by Colonel A. H. McMahon, C.S.I., C.I.E , on the banks of 

 the Helmand at lower Khwaja Ali, on 7th February 1903. A flight of these 

 cranes was, however, subsequently seen by me, passing over Mission camp at 

 Kuhak, on 30th March 1905. 



54. The Houbara. (1415) Honiara macqueeni. (Persian, 

 Thukdar and Thukdarri ; Biluchi, Charz and Charras ; 

 Pashtu, Sara and S;ire ; Hindustani, Tiloor.) 



This Bustard is fairly plentiful in Seistan during the spring, being found on 

 the dasht salt-covered plains and sand hills near cultivation. Pour birds were 

 trapped by Seistanis near Ziarat-i-Bibi Dost between Zahidan and Nasratabad 

 and brought into camp at Kuhak on 18th March 1905. Several were subse- 

 quently seen about Sabzkim, Zahidan and elsewhere. The Biluch Nomad, who 

 professes to know something about the nidification of birds, state that this 

 Bustard breeds in Seistan about the middle of May, when the crops are being 

 cut. This may be correct as regards Seistan, but it does not correspond with 

 the only find of this bird's eggs that I know of. When I was in Fao, on the 

 Shatel Arab in 1884, the Sheikh of Koweit sent in 8 eggs of this Bustard on 

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