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More about birds in the Balkans.



Great Britain. Other birds which I have seen here, exclusive of

those mentioned by X, are: Missel Thrushes, Fieldfares, Redwings,

Common Wheatear, Black-throated Wheatear, another Wheatear,

Whinchat, Stonechat, Pied Wagtail, Blue-headed Wagtail, Pipits,

Golden Oriole, Red-backed Shrikes, Spotted Flycatcher, Swallow,

Martin, Sand Martin, Swift, Jay, Night-jar, Cuckoo, Great Spotted

and Gi'een Woodpeckers, Ruddy Shelduck, Stock Dove, Quail, Great-

crested Grebe, Moorhen, Jack Snipe, Curlew, various Gulls and

Terns, not forgetting our old friends the Storks and Pelicans.


The following have been seen, but not by myself: Tufted

Duck, Pintail, and Osprey.


It would be of great interest to many if one of our Struma

bird lovers would tell us about birds on that front, where I hear there

are Pheasants. Has anyone ever seen a Hedge-Sparrow or Yellow-

hammer in this country ? Dormant Starling.


II.


“ X ” sends the following in extension of his article:


The puzzle of the mysterious Ducks has been solved, and it

is regretted that an incomplete description did not lead to their iden¬

tification through the present columns.


The first was a ruddy Sheldrake or “Brahminy Duck,” and the

second was a Smew. The writer is acquainted with the goosander

species, of which two were seen in the great February snowstorm on

the lake shore.


Greylag Geese have been fairly numerous during the hard

weather in the Brest marshes, and the smaller white-fronted geese

less frequently.


The Tree Duck closely resembled “ Dendrocygna viduata ”

and were stray birds from Africa, it is presumed. Their sharp claws

were typical of their kind.


The paragraph relating to the Harriers was obviously mis¬

printed and “ Berserk ” rightly interpreted the true meaning.


With regard to the Cormorants on Lake Doiran, the Pigmy

Cormorant is the commonest, then the true Cormorant, and rarest

the Shag. The Little Bustard is not so often seen in our plain as the

Great Bustard ; both birds are most wary and cannot be approached



