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216 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVIII. 
The most frequently seen are Tufted Duck; the Grey Lag and White-fronted 
are the common geese, while the Heron tribe is very well represented with Goliath 
Purple, Common, Night and Squacco Herons, Bitterns, Little Bitterns, Egrets, 
Ibis, etc., and Coots, Purple Gallinule, etc., swarm. In summer it would 
seem to be ornithologically not so interesting. Buxton travelled by canoe twice 
for two days across the Hor Hawezeh in July, and saw comparatively few birds. 
For two days he passed through gigantic beds of reeds, many of them 18-20 feet 
high, intersected by narrow channels of clear water, six feet deep in places ; 
there were no small birds in the reeds except close to land, where the Moustached 
Sedged Warbler was common, and the larger birds seemed to consist of nothing 
but Purpie Coots, Pigmy Cormorants, Goliath Heron and Darters, but doubt- 
less there were a few others such as Marsh Harrier and Purple Heron as in other 
lakes, and there is a certain amount of evidence that a few Grey Lag remain to 
breed, as certainly does the Marbled Duck, while in the Euphrates marshes 
around Museyib, the Avocet, Whiskered Tern and Black-necked Grebe, etc., nest. 
Temporary lakes are frequently formed by the spill of the rivers in flood such 
as at the Umal Brahm and Akkarkuf, etc. These are large open sheets of water 
affording a haven in winter for water fowl and waders generally, but under the 
influenve of the spring sun, dry up quickly and on the receding mud waste, Com- 
mon and Lesser Terns, Kentish and Little Ringed Plover and White-tailed Lap- 
wing breed in numbers ; the Stilt on the more swampy parts. 
4. Date and Fruit Gardens. 
These are the haunts of the tree loving species to which in Mesopotamia, 
little alternative exists. Among the resident birds are the Wood Pigeon, 
Persian Crow, Indian Ringed Dove, Babbler and Bulbul, while the Indian 
Roller is restricted to the Shat-al-Arab area. In winter come the song 
Thrush, Persian Robin, Isabelline Shrike, Phylloscopi, etc., while the tall 
date palms are resorted to for roosting by countless Rooks, Starlings, Black 
Kites and Night Herons. In summer come to breed the Olivaceous Warbler, 
Nightingale, Grey-backed Warbler, Persian Turtle Dove and Yellow-throated 
Sparrow (Gymmnorhis), etc., and many passage migrants halt here. One day every 
bush is full of Phylloscopi, another every pomegranate bush holds Woodchat or 
Red-backed Shrikes or the bean fields are full of Great Reed Warblers. ; 
5. The Corn Lands. 
In winter, this is the haunt of Rooks, Jackdaws, Stock and Rock doves 
which feed on the newly sewn corn; the Crested Lark is ubiquitous and _resi- 
dent ; Sky, Wood and Short-toed Larks, House and Spanish Sparrows are to 
be seen in flocks in winter while the Pallid Harrier and Kestrel particularly 
affect this type of country. As the corn grows high, various migrants may here 
be found such as the Sedge Warbler, Lesser White-throat, etc. During irrigation 
in winter and early spring, numbers of Wagtails and Meadow, Water and Red- 
throated Pipits haunt the wettest parts. 
In the summer, after harvest, the Large Pin-tailed Sandgrouse in immense 
numbers, and the Spotted Sand Grouse in small numbers breed in and round the 
corn lands. 
6. The Rivers and low Scrub Jungle along the banks. 
In winter, the White Wagtail, Green Plover, Green and Red Shanks and Com- 
mon Sandpiper are among the familiar winter visitors, while the Common, 
Pied and White-breasted Kingfishers, Red-Wattled Lapwing are resident and 
breed. In winter too, many Gulls (L. cachinnans and ridibundus) may be 
seen far up the river inland, as well as Gull-billed, Little and Caspian Terns, 
while among the ducks, the Smew and Golden-eye seem to show a predelic- 
tion for the rivers themselves. 
In the scrub and scrub jungles which only exist in the vicinity of rivers and 
canals, the Black Partridge or Francolin is a characteristic bird, as also are Mene- 
tries Warbler, Streaked Wren Warbler, and here and there (as a summer visitor) 
the Grey Hypocolius and Scrub Sparrow, while in winter, these last are joined 
