191 7-] Birds observed at Erzerum. 19 



Muscicapa semitorquata. Half-collared Flycatcher. 



On April 12, 1910, after a strong S.W. gale, which had 

 evidently compelled gi'eat numhers of migrants to interrupt 

 their journey, I found about twenty of these Flycatchers, 

 males and females, in a row of poplars near the Tortum 

 Gate, and on the 15th and 17th, during snowy weather, I 

 saw two hen-birds in different spots within the walls, I also 

 observed single specimens on the 18th and 20th of August 

 at my camp. 



Muscicapa parva. Red-breasted Flycatcher. 



On September 25, 1910, observed three in ray camp and 

 one among some trees a quarter of a mile away. None 

 were red-breasted, but their habits and plumage left no 

 doubt as to their identity. On the following day I saw 

 another, likewise without a red breast, in the Boghaz, and 

 on September 29 I saw an adult male. 



Hirundo rustica. Swallow. 



The Swallow is abundant in the Passen Plain and is also 

 to be found in numbers in the villages of the Erzerum 

 plateau ; but, for some reason unknown to me, it does not 

 frequent the town itself, where the Swifts are in exclusive 

 possession. 



The earliest dates on which I observed the Swallow were 

 April 28 in 1910 and April 22 in 1911, and these were the 

 forerunners of enormous flights, but it was not until about 

 May 5 that the local birds seemed to take possession of 

 their summer quarters. I imagine these birds began to 

 return southwards (or, rather, south-westwards, as all the 

 migrants did) about the middle of August, but, despite 

 careful watch, I found their movements most baffling, many 

 large flights seeming to take a north-eastern direction as late 

 as after mid-September — perhaps attracted by the extensive 

 marshes of the Kara Su. After this date, however, their 

 direction was uniformly south, and the last fligiits were 

 seen on October 10-12. A single bird was observed in the 

 town on November 13, 1910. 



c2 



