Eyg -collecting in Asia Minor. 407 



Getting back to Bournabat late tlie same evening, I pro- 

 ceeded by rail next morning to Aidin^ which is distant about 

 one hundred miles south-east from Smyrna. 1 noticed many 

 birds along the line, numbers of Purple Herons and Little 

 Egrets flying up from a marsh we passed through, while 

 Rollers, Bee-eaters, Little Owls, and Lesser Kestrels Avere 

 always to be seen perched on the telegraph-wires. I had 

 been told that numbers of Egyptian Vultures nested in the 

 cliffs behind Aidin, and as soon as we had had something 

 to eat Demetrius and I sallied forth on a tour of inspection. 

 We soon saw several Vultures flying round, and in the course 

 of the afternoon discovered two fresh nests, neither of which 

 would have been approachable without the assistance of a 

 light rope-ladder which I had brought with me from England. 

 There were no eggs in the first nest we examined, taough it 

 seemed just ready for them ; but the second nest, which was 

 in a small cave, within six feet of the top of the cliff, con- 

 tained two very handsome red-blotched eggs, which were 

 slightly incubated. 



On the follo\^ing morning. May 8tli, we took another 



Egyptian Vulture^s nest with two slightly-incubated eggs, 



and saw three other nests with the birds sitting on them, 



which we could not reach. We also found the nest of a 



Black-eared Wheatear [Saxicola albicollis) in a hole in the 



rocks, with six fresh eggs, one of which was broken in getting 



out the nest. We also saw a great many Rollers fly out of 



holes in the cliffs, as well as Little Owls [Athene noctua) and 



Lesser Kestrels [Falco cenchris), but could And no eggs. 



Neither the Rollers nor the Lesser Kestrels had yet laid, I 



think, and the Little Owls that we disturbed were, I suppose, 



not in their nesting-holes. Li the afternoon I spent three 



hours hunting for small birds* nests, among the gardens and 



fields in the plain below the town of Aidin ; but although I 



had the assistance of Demetrius and three local Greek boys, 



we found only one nest, that of an Olivaceous Warbler 



{Hi/polais pallida), hetween us. This nest was built in the 



fork of a branch of a pomegranate-tree, about 10 feet from 



the ground ; it was very small and neatly made, with a 



o p o 



