288 Mesopotamian Birds. 



Mesopotamian Birds. 



Rr.PRlNTED FROM " THK TlMES," CUTTING SENT BY REV. 



G. H. Raynor, M.A. 

 NOTES OF A NATURALIST. 



A few notes of the birds which I saw wliile serving 

 in Mesopotamia may be of interest to naturalists and others. 

 At Basrah, at the end of February, my attention was caught 

 by the Kites and Buzzards hanging over the pahn-groves. A 

 Black Crow, exactly like the English Rook except that it had 

 no wattle above the beak, and a large Grey Crow visited the 

 camp, and I saw a flock of six Hoopoes among the palms. 

 On the way up the' Tigris early in March, the Greater King- 

 fisher was seeii in large numbers, a bold and noisy bird, pied 

 with a slight crest which it raises when alarmed. I saw also 

 several species of the extraordinarily interesting LiniicoLae. At 

 Orah. where we spent two days and nights ashore by the 

 Wadi, I noticed, besides White-throats and Tree Sparrows, 

 two distinct species of Gull — a bird like the Ivory Gull and 

 the Blaciv-headed Gull, which may be found nesting in the 

 marshes hundreds of miles inland. Some oif these were getting 

 up their spring plumage, having already blue-black heads 

 and blood-red beaks and feet. At Sheikh Saad, about March 

 I I, a pleasing sight was the harriers hunting for their prey, 

 flying just above the ground with their long narrow wings and 

 long tails (dark brown to bluish grey, male and female), 

 then circling round with a perfect gliding motion and but 

 little movement of the wings, and then suddenly moving oft 

 with another rapid glide. (It was at Sheikh Saad, also, that 

 at the end of June. I saw a Flamii\go, flying low). 



On March 20 migratory birds were first observed at 

 Orah; Sand Grouse in thousands flying from south-east to 

 north-west; Storks circling round and round till they disap- 

 peared northward at a tremendous height, and fascinating 

 little flocks of yellow, pied, white, and blue-headed Wagtails. 

 These were extraordinarily tame, and walked about close to 

 mules and men. As we moved up to lake Falali-y-Iish, close 



