186 Mr. F. N. Chasen oji the [Ibis, 



well within the sphere of hostilities for the greater part of 

 the war. 



There is no need to dwell on the geographical nature of 

 the country, its vegetation or other issues likely to affect 

 its ornithology, for all this information is available — in a 

 concise form — in a paper by Capt. Alan G. Ogilvie, O.B.E., 

 })ublished in the ' Geographical Journal ' (vol. Iv. no. 1, 

 Jan. 1920). 



The observations from which the following notes were 

 compiled were made during a period extending over a little 

 more than eighteen months spent with the Allied Army in 

 Macedonia. The writer was stationed for the greater part of 

 this period on the Struma plain, but the long excursions 

 that ordinarily fall to the lot of a mounted soldier, gave 

 ample chances for bird-watching in the hill district that lies 

 between the swiftly flowing river and the coast. 



The area with which we are concerned in this paper may 

 be said to form a crude triangle with its base along the line 

 Lake Doiran-Seres and its apex at Salonica. 



Opportunities for detailed or continuous observation are of 

 necessity very limited when on active service and all dates 

 given are inclusive, that is to say, they do not necessarily 

 imply the absence of a species at other times. Most of the 

 birds mentioned below ai'e very familiar species, and only 

 those are included the identification of which was certain. 

 I was not in a position to collect skins, although I skinned 

 quite a number of birds simply through inability to let a 

 good specimen waste. What few I did get together were 

 lost — with a mule — during the blizzard at Lahana, in 

 March 1918. For this reason I have made no attempt to 

 discriminate subspecies, and all doubtful records — however 

 interesting — have been ignored. 



I have to thank my very kind correspondent. Major Alex. 

 G. L. S laden, for the infinite amount of trouble he has taken 

 in reading through my paper. In some cases we worked 

 over the same ground, and Major Sladen has let mo have 

 some most interesting notes which have come to hand since 

 the publication of his own papers. 



