THE BIRDS OF MESOPOTAMIA, 413 
it was noted that some were near hatching, while others were half incubated 
only. 
Young well fledged are reported in mid-June. The nest holes go in 5 to 7 feet 
and if in flat ground at an angle of 10 to 15 degrees ; the entrance holes are hard 
and worn smooth by the constant passage of birds. 
The war did much to accommodate this bird in providing miles of perch in 
the form of telegraph wires and nesting sites in abandoned trenches. 
This Bee-eater moves off again at the end of August, and flocks migrating over, 
going in some southerly direction, were noted on many days during September in 
several places, and up to October 13th. Cheesman noted that they migrated by 
night as well as by day, and their distinctive calls were often to be heard on dark 
nights in September as the flocks passed over. Towards the end of October they 
became scarce and there is an odd record on November 14th. 
The Arabic name for both species of Bee-eaters and Roller is the same— 
Khundar, 
Specimens examined : 4, Amara, 6-6-18. Juv. 5-7-18 (P. A. B.); Nahr Umar, 
26-3-18 (two) (C. R. P.); Baghdad, 17-8-17 (Ingoldby) ; Shaiba, 12-9-16, 18-9-16 
(P. Z. C. and R. E. C.); 4, Basra, 18-3-18 (C. B. T.). 
The young leave the country in their juvenile dress. 
145. Little Green Bee-eater. Merops orientalis. (-viri- 
dis auct.) 
Merops orientalis beludschicus, Neum. (Orn. Monat. 1910, p. 80—Persian 
Beluchistan). 
We have no certain record of this bird ; however it must occasionally occur 
as Cumming noted it once at Fao after a severe storm. Zarudny says it nests 
in small numbers in the Karun district and is a migrant ; it has been met with 
at Bushire in January to March and occurs along the south coast of Persia. 
St. John (Eastern Persia, p. 125) says it extends to Basra, if that is so I must 
have overlooked the record. 
146. Hoopoe. Upupaepops. ‘Had-Had.”’ 
Upupa epops epops, L. (Syst. Nat. Ed. x) i, p. 117, 1758—Sweden). 
It is chiefly as a passage migrant that the Hoopoe occurs in Mesopotamia though 
a few pass the winter in suitable localities and odd ones are met with in the 
breeding season, but there is no evidence that they nest in our plains ; however it 
certainly breeds at Urfa and may do so in our hills, as it appears in the plains 
very early in autumn. 
Though occasional birds are recorded in December to February, it is not until 
the second week in March that the migration sets in, and Hoopoes become very 
common towards the end of the month ; the migration continues during April 
and most have passed on by the end of the month. There is a single record in 
June from Amara and several other indefinité records of birds being seen during 
““the summer.” Odd ones are recorded in the last half of July near Baghdad, 
probably early migrants from not far off ; it becomes common by the middle of 
August and is plentiful up to the first week in October, but most have gone by 
the middle of that month. Migrants were noted in the middle of the Gulf on 
August 13th and 31st. 
_ Weigold records it breeding in pollarded mulberries at Urfa. Zarudny says 
epops and loudoni are winter visitors to the Karun ; the latter is a synonym of 
the former (vide Hartert, Vog. Pal. F., p. 867). 
The Arabic name is of course onomatopeeic and widely used in the east for 
this bird. 
Four specimens examined: 9, Shaiba, 8-9-16 (P. Z. C. and R. E. C.); Basra, 
17-8-17; Kurna, 17-3-18; @, Amara, 25-2-18 (P. A. B.). 
