2 Mr. P. J. C. McGregor on [Ibis, 



principal summits of which are Kop Dagh and Dumla Dagh, 

 while immediately behiud the town the massif, comprising 

 Palantukyen (" The wearer-out of pack-saddles ") and 

 Eyer Dagh (" Saddle Mountain "), rises steeply to a height 

 of 10,000 feet. 



The climate is of extreme rigour, as snow falls in the 

 town in October and snow-storms may occur late in June, 

 although a thaw generally begins in April. Intense cold 

 prevails for at least four months, and blizzards are of 

 frequent occurrence ; but the brief summer is hot and dry, 

 dew at night being almost unknown. 



The entire region may be characterized as treeless, except 

 for a few poplars and willows in the town itself and in some 

 sheltered nooks among the mountains, and nothing taller 

 than the henbane is produced by the light yellow loam 

 of the plain. A small crop of stunted oats is grown in 

 summer, and there are extensive vegetable-gardens to the 

 north of the town, which are a favourite haunt of spring 

 and autumn migrants. The flora comprises a great variety 

 of vetches, bulbous plants, and thistles of brilliant colouring, 

 and the early summer clothes the plain and the mountain 

 slopes with green for a brief spell ; but the general note is 

 one of tawny desolation and aridity. 



Under these circumstances the scantiness of bird-life 

 cannot surprise. In the dead winter one sees practically 

 nothing but Jackdaws, Sparrows, and an occasional Magpie 

 or Tit in the town, while flocks of Field- and Shore-Larks 

 seek for a living on the roads outside. The spring migra- 

 tion is usually accomplished under conditions resembling 

 those of a severe winter in England, and, although the 

 nesting of Starlings, Wheatears, Swifts, Kestrels, and Rock- 

 Sparrows gives a certain animation to the summer months, 

 it is not until autumn that the numbers and movements of 

 the birds become conspicuous enough to enliven these soli- 

 tudes. At that season the defile known as the Kyrk 

 Deirmen Boghaz (''The Defile of the Forty Mills"), 

 situated about three miles west of the town, becomes one 

 of the most interesting observation-posts in the vicinity on 



