622 Col. R,. Meinert7.hagen on Birds from [I^^i^, 



spenies or geographical races o£ birds which occur within the 

 Pala^arctic Eegion. I was in Palestine during nearly the 

 whole of 1917, but the war prevented anything but a small 

 representative collection being made, the results of which 

 have been already published in ' The Ibis ' of January 1920. 

 I returned to the Near East in August 1919 and remained 

 there till August 1920. During that period I spent about 

 half my time in Syria and Palestine and half in Egypt, 

 visiting Aleppo, Damascus, the Syrian Desert, Lebanon, 

 Beyrouth, and the Jordan Valley, also Solium and the Siwa 

 Oasis in the western Desert of Egypt. I traversed the desert 

 between Suez and Cairo twice, I visited the Fayoum twice, 

 and the Wadi Hof near Helouan on several occasions. I 

 finally spent a month in Crete. 



Collecting was carried on everywhere and under all con- 

 ditions. Powell, who did all my skinning, was at times 

 hard-worked. On one occasion I returned to Damascus from 

 the Syrian Desert with an Eagle-Owl, a Rock-Pigeon, 

 three Chukar, and eleven smaller birds. Powell had the lot 

 skinned and made up into first-class skins in six hours. 

 Again, in the Jordan Valley (notwithstanding the sweltering- 

 heat and myriads of mosquitos) I returned with two Stone- 

 Curlew, two Kestrel, two Little Owls, three C^hukar, three 

 Starlings, and a Dotterel. All were done that evening. 



I have again to thank my friend Mr. M. J. Nicoll for so 

 kindly housing my collections in Cairo and helping me with 

 advice ; and to Lord Rothschild and Dr. Hartert I again 

 offer my sincerest thanks for the assistance afforded me in 

 working out my collections at Tring. Finally, I have to 

 thank Sir Geoffrey Archer for allowing me to look through 

 his collection of Somaliland birds. 



Wing measurements are taken flat and fully extended. 

 Cnlmen measurements are those of the upper mandible from 

 its junction with the skull, unless otherwise mentioned. 

 All measurements are given in millimetres. 



Throughout this paper the name Kenya Colony is used for 

 British East Africa, and the nnmo Tanganyika Territory is 

 used for German East Africa. 



