EN ROUTE FOR DAGHESTAN. 243 



Every now and then the sand -grouse would 

 tempt me to call a halt ; but though the place in 

 which they pitched was marked ever so carefully 

 and beaten as closely as men could beat it, we 

 found it quite impossible to flush the birds without 

 the assistance of a dog. As the light failed, we 

 saw phalanx after phalanx of starlings wheeling, 

 extending, and re-massing themselves in the dusky 

 skies ; and as we drew near the reed-beds, towards 

 which their flight tended, we became witnesses 

 of a piece of very interesting bird-life. Near 

 the reed-beds were several trees, say half-a-dozen, 

 and as they were bare of leaves, we could see 

 on every tree some two or three hawks. As the 

 starlings swept down with rushing wings to their 

 nightly abiding-place, the hawks would glide from 

 their perches, and swooping amongst them, break 

 and turn the advancing host. Quick as the ma- 

 rauders were, the starlings did not seem to fare 

 half so badly as might have been expected, and at 

 last all the wanderers were at rest in their reedy 

 home except one small band which, arriving later 

 than the rest, had been terribly harried by the 

 hawks, and seemed almost to have given up all 

 hope of getting safe home. On a tree some dis- 

 tance from the reeds, halfway between the ground 

 and the highest branch, sat in silent state, or 

 gorged apathy, a splendid specimen of the king 

 of birds. Chivied perpetually by the hawks, and 



K 2 



