Letters^ Extracts, Notices, ^c. 745 



it is called by the Persians — comes in hundreds, and takes 

 possession of almost every nullah-bank, closely followed by 

 that gay bird, the European Bee-eater, which similarly lays 

 its eggs in a hole in some bank. Almost every Kanat-well 

 has its pair of Pied Wagtails, the sky is full of Swallows and 

 Swifts, and the Persian Nightingale sings and breeds in the 

 gardens. At one time I had two Nightingales^ nests and six 

 or seven nests of a little Tree-Warbler in my garden, all 

 within a few yards of the front-door steps. Soon after the 

 middle of April the Quail appear, and the cock birds are 

 netted in large numbers, by means of calls, in the young 

 wheat crops, and sold in the bazaar at the rate of six for a 

 kran. They breed around the town, and towards the end of 

 July, after the corn is cut, young quails are to be found in 

 the grain-fields and are excellent eating. Another bird that 

 breeds in Khurasan in large numbers is the Rose-coloured 

 Starling — the Sdr, as the Persians call it. The Koh-i-Sangi 

 to the south-west of the town is a favourite resort of these 

 birds ; large flocks gather there, and breed amongst the 

 tumbled mass of rocks and boulders that forms the western 

 cud of the hill. In June, when the young birds are fledged, 

 men and boys go out from the town with baskets and catch 

 them in numbers. It is a curious sight to see them hunting 

 about the rocks for the nests. The old birds sit around, 

 jabbering away as hard as they can, almost every one of them 

 with either a grasshopper or a white mulberry in its mouth 

 for the benefit of the young birds that, alas for them, are 

 being ruthlessly carried oft\" 



The Honey-guide in Abyssinia. — From the ' Times ^ of 

 August 18th, 1901, we extract the following paragraph 

 contained in a letter of its special correspondent with the 

 Abyssinian Field Force, dated at Jig-Jigga, May 5th : — 



'' On our way I made the acquaintance of the ' Morris ' or 

 Honey-bird, of which one has often read in travellers^ books, 

 but of whose existence and powers I had personally always 

 been sceptical. I encountered the bird as I was wandering 

 one morning along the hills skirting the valley in search of 



