414! Canon H. B. Tristram's Ornithological 



broods in India, and taken their summer holiday free from 

 family cares. As it is, their behaviour reminds one very 

 much of the erratic customs of the Waxwing. I ought to 

 have mentioned that these amazing flocks keep up an inces- 

 sant chatter, a deafening babble, not so much overpowering 

 by its volume of sound, as implying a myriad of voices, " the 

 voice of many waters,'^ not, so far as I could judge, to be 

 distinguished from the notes of a great swarm of Starlings. 



From Aintab I struck down to the Euphrates at Birejik, 

 where Mr. Danford had promised me a rich treat in the 

 opportunity of studying the Bald Ibis {Comatibis comata); 

 nor was I disappointed. The shores of the Euphrates, so 

 far as I have seen them, are, for the most part, bare and un- 

 interesting. Trees and birds are alike scarce. Gulls flit up 

 and down ; but I never could identify the species, though 

 among them the large Larus iclithyaetus must have been one. 

 There are many Waders ; but of course these are all of familiar 

 species — Redshank, Green Sandpiper, Kentish Plover, and 

 especially the Pratincole, being the most abundant. The 

 neighbourhood of Birejik, however, is exceptionally good 

 ground for the ornithologist. Though the right bank on the 

 Syrian side slopes down almost insensibly from the plain, the 

 river is fenced on the Mesopotamian side by a long range of 

 bold and lofty cliffs. On them is perched the town of Birejik, 

 where the cliff's leave but a narrow strip of low-lying land by 

 the river-bank. Above and below the cliff's recede, and the 

 little plain is well-wooded and carefully cultivated. Here, 

 on both sides, is abundance of bird-life. The telegraph-line 

 to Teheran here crosses the Euphrates, and the Bee-eaters 

 prefer its wires to any other perch. I was delighted to find 

 here, for the first time in any numbers, a colony of the 

 Persian Bee-eater {Merops persicus) , not so numerous as M. 

 apiaster, but still plentiful. The habits of the two species 

 are markedly different when seen together. M. persicus is 

 by no means shy, and perches much more frequently than 

 the other, settling on low trees, and frequently on the top of 

 a thistle-tuft. 



AVhile waiting for the ferry-boat, as the shades of evening 



