576 Letters, Announcements, &^c. 



I had frequently seen the Locust-bird, or Russet Starling 

 (called by the Moslems "^^ Ala Segherjik") , in Asia Minor; but 

 I came across one of their breeding-places, for the first time, 

 on the 26th May, 1881, when Adsiting the large quarries from 

 which the celebrated Synnadic or Docimian marble was ob- 

 tained. These quarries are about two miles from Ichje 

 Kara-hissar (Docimian), shown on Kiepert's mapasEski Kara- 

 hissar, to the north-east of Aiium Kara-hissar. The bottom 

 and slopes of the quarries are covered with loose stones of 

 all sizes, the debris left by the quarrymen ; and it was under 

 these stones that the birds had made their nests. The nests 

 consisted in some cases of a few dried blades of grass ar- 

 ranged in a shallow hollow in the rubbish; but, as a rule, 

 the eggs appeared to have been laid on any spot where the 

 ground offered a fairly smooth surface. Each nest contained 

 six eggs of a pure, or slightly bluish, white ; I tried to blow 

 some of the eggs, but in each case found the chick fully 

 formed and nearly ready to hatch. The whole quarry was 

 alive with birds ; at each step a flight started up from the 

 debris, and the chattering noise they made was quite deafen- 

 ing ; their habits reminded me in many ways of those of the 

 English Starling. A few Jackdaws and the Common Star- 

 ling were also breeding in the quarries. The people of Ichje 

 Kara-hissar told me that the birds had suddenly appeared two 

 years previously and taken possession of the quarries as if 

 they had always bred there. 



On the 3rd June, 1881, shortly before reaching Sivri-hissar, 

 my attention was attracted by the number of Locust-birds 

 in the air, and, on looking closer, I found that they formed 

 two streams, one above the other, coming from and returning 

 to the high volcanic rocks behind the town; the birds in the 

 upper stream were going to an army of young locusts, and 

 those in the lower were returning, each with as many locusts 

 as it could carry. I heard afterwards that the birds were 

 breeding in the rocks, but did not visit the place : judging 

 from the fact that the old birds were carrying locusts home 

 to their nests, the young must have been hatched. 



On the 7th June, 1881, I found another breeding-place of 



