112 ONYCHOGNATHUS BLYTHI 



Dobar springs. Mr. Lort Phillips also found these Starlings 

 " on the upper ledges of the Goolis, where they were evidently 

 breeding in holes in the face of the clifi." In the British 

 Museum there is a specimen procured by Mr. Gillett at 

 Kaloko. Dr. Donaldson Smith obtained an immature bird 

 in January near Bukar and several adults in the Liban district 

 and I do not trace it further westward. 



It ranges along the Eed Sea to as far north as the Senafe 

 Valley where it has been obtained by Blanford, who writes : 

 " Amijdrus bhjfJii abounds around Mayen at an elevation of 

 from 3,000 to 4,000 feet in the pass below Senafe. In 

 January and Februar}^ they were frequentl}' met with in 

 flocks, which were often seen flying around the rocks, their 

 red wings flashing conspicuously in the sun. I once found 

 a great roosting-place, where evidentl}' large numbers from 

 all quarters collected at night. It was in a ravine, where, 

 owing to the presence of a band of hard rock, the water- 

 course made a sudden descent, and here even in the dryest 

 season a very small quantity of water trickled over the rocks. 

 As in many similar places where water trickled down the 

 face of a steep cliff, a large deposit of calcareous tufa had 

 taken place, and, probably owing to the subsequent wearing 

 action of the torrent, which in rainy weather rushes down 

 the ravine, had been so excavated as to form an over- 

 hanging clifi, beneath which these birds took up their abode 

 at nightfall in great numbers, clinging to the rock. The 

 water also attracted numerous Cynoceplialus liaviadrijas 

 Monkeys, and a few Pigeons and other birds ; the principal 

 inhabitants, however, being the Monkeys and Aniydri, and 

 the noise produced by the two was deafening, especially 

 whenever a shot was fired." 



His specimens in the British Museum, from the Senafe 

 Pass are remarkably large, as the following measurements 



