Notes from Mesopotamia. 387 



[59. Puffinus yelkouanus Acerbi. 



Flocks of these " Lost Souls " or Yelkovan were to be seen 

 constantly passing up or down the Bosphorus. The people 

 of Constantinople commonly suppose that they never alight 

 on the water,] 



60. ?Podicipes fluviatilis Tunstall. 



" Plenty of small Grebes " were seen on the pond at 

 Kumbet, July 7 . 



XXI. Notes from Mesopotamia. 

 By Capt. R. Meinertzhagen, M.B.O.U. 



(Text-figure 7.) 



A FEW notes on the birds observed during a trip up the 

 Tigris in January^ 1914^ may be of interest to readers of 

 ' The Ibis.' 



Though the list of birds which were seen must not in any 

 way be considered exhaustive, it will give any future traveller 

 in these regions an idea of what he may expect to find in 

 Mesopotamia during the winter months. 



Entering the Shat-el-Arab at Fao, I travelled up by river- 

 boat to Bagdad, whence a visit Avas paid to Babylon and 

 Kerbela. Mosul was visited by carriage, and the return 

 journey to Bagdad made by raft, and thence by river-boat 

 to Basra and Mohammerah. 



Though the trip was of short duration, I had exceptional 

 opportunities for observing bird-life both in the desert and 

 on the river. 



A fact which was noticed at the start was the European 

 character of the birds seen, scarcely any being purely Asiatic. 

 Again, nearly all birds seen were migrants from the north. 

 The Tigris at Mosul is about 200 yards wide, with frequent 

 sandy islands. In places the river broadens out to half a 

 mile, with marshes on either side, whilst about Tekrit the 

 river passes through low hills, which confine it to a rapid 



