56 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA 



so high up the mountains, never being found higher than 1000 feet on the southern 



slopes of the Alps. 



The desert -bat (Myotis desertorum), which inhabits Persia, Baluchistan, 

 Afghanistan, and probably other parts of south-western Asia, assimilates in colour 

 to the desert-sand. Another bat of this area is the widely distributed Miniopterus 

 schreibersi, which ranges from southern Europe through Asia, Africa, and 

 Madagascar, to Australia. Its powerful flight and the graceful movement of its 

 wings°make it almost the equal of the swallow in speed. In length it is 2£ inches, 

 the tail measuring about the same ; in southern Europe and northern Africa it is 

 grey, in India generally dark brown. 



The remarkable long-tailed bat (Rhinopoma microphyllum) is of almost 

 equally w ide distribution, ranging from Egypt to Burma. It is at once dis- 

 tinguished from all other bats by its extremely long, thin, whip-like free tail. 

 In length the body measures only 3 inches, but the tail is nearly 2i inches long. 

 In colour it is sombre greyish blue both above and below. It may be added 

 that a few species of monkeys inhabit Kashmir, but as these are obviously out- 

 lying Oriental forms, and not distinctive Mediterranean types, they need not be 

 further referred to in this place. 



Buibuiand The birds of south-western Asia include a great number of 



Chats. central European types mingled with others unknown in the former 

 area. The nightingale, for instance, is found in Asia Minor, but in Persia and 

 Turkestan is replaced by the bulbul or Persian nightingale (Daulias hafizi, or 

 golzii), which is of rather larger size, with a longer and more rounded tail and 

 a paler colour. In the neighbourhood of the Caspian the nightingale lives 

 mostly amid dense brambles. Another European species, the black redstart, occurs 

 in Asia Minor ; and the stonechat of central and southern Europe ranges through 

 the corresponding latitudes of Asia as far as Japan, while the whinchat is met 

 with as far south as Persia. The wheatear, again, is represented in south-western 

 Asia and north-eastern Africa by the eastern black -throated wheatear (Saxicola 

 melanoleuca), which breeds in Greece, southern Russia, and Asia Minor, and on 

 migration visits the Nile valley and the regions as far south as Zanzibar. Like all 

 the wheatears, it is a brisk, restless bird, which feeds on beetles, grubs, caterpillars, 

 and other flying and creeping insects. In habits it resembles the other members of 

 the group, but dwells on low mountains among barren rocks or on sandy shores, 

 often appearing near human dwellings and making its nest in walls and stone-heaps. 

 In length it is over 5i inches. The males are black on the side of the face and the 

 throat, and on the scapulars and wing-coverts, and pale rusty red mingled with 

 white on the upper part of the head and back. 



The dippers have a representative in this area which differs from 



the European form in certain details of coloration. The white-necked 



dipper (Cinclus albicollis), as it is called, is indigenous to Asia Minor, North Africa. 



and southern Europe. Although very like the common species, it is paler and 



greyer in colour. 



Rock-Thmsh. The roc ^- tnrusn of this region is the blue species (Monticola 



cyanus), which inhabits the shores of the Mediterranean from Spain 



to Greece and is further distributed through Asia Minor, Persia, and central Asia, 



