NATUEAL HISTORY OF LAKE UEMI, 368 



Quails and partridges are common, and afford a favourite sport 

 to native falconers, who use sparrow-bawks. The bee-eaters 

 {Merops apiaster) were extremely plentiful near the northern end 

 of the lake in July, but were not to be seen further south in 

 August and early September. 



Storks are abundant ; their twig nests are to be found in trees 

 or on the roofs of the houses in most of the villages. The Syrians 

 have learnt the Persian story that the stork visits Mecca during 

 his winter migration, and doubtless that is why " Hajji Laqlaq " 

 is regarded as bringing good luck and is attracted by nesting- 

 baskets put up in trees. Storks return about March 14th. 



The hoopoe is common. The Syrians consider them unclean 

 birds (Lev. xi. 19, E. V. ; Peut. xiv. 18), and call them "Pupu" 

 and also " Birds of Solomon," from the old legend that they got 

 their crests from him. " A flock of them once sheltered him from 

 a burning sun. In gratitude the king asked them what he should 

 do for them, and they asked for crowns of gold. But finding 

 that they were being killed by greedy men for the sake of the 

 crowns, they begged Solomon to change them for the crest which 

 they retain to this day" {Maclean). 



In addition to the reptiles mentioned below, Clemmys caspia, 

 de Filippi, is common. Many may be seen walking along the 

 banks of the watercourses, ready to dive into the stream on 

 being disturbed. After lying still for three to five minutes in a 

 hole or beneath some water-weed, they cautiously come up to 

 see whether the danger is past. All the specimens examined 

 bad the yellow sternal shields with black patches characteristic 

 of C. caspia as opposed to the European C. leprosa. 



Testudo ibera is common at Seir, as indeed it is on the mountains 

 to the east of the lake. On Koyun Daghi I found the fragment 

 of a carapace which probably belonged to this species. 



JE'isli. — Inasmuch as the rivers which flow into the lake are 

 separated from each other by a medium, the salt water, in which 

 no fish can live for a period long enough to enable it to swim 

 from one river to the next, the characteristics of the fish fauna 

 of the individual rivers are deserving of the most careful investi- 

 gation, because they may supply us with a clue to the physical 

 conditions which obtained during a particular epoch in the lake's 

 history. If it can be shown that the faunas of all the rivers are 

 identical, or that no local variations or species are distinguishable 

 in the different rivers, then it must be inferred that the rivers 



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