on birds in Macedonia.



27



alighted upon a pollarded tree only 20 yards away. It seemed tame

enough, and did not resent my scrutiny. It was the first wild one

I had ever seen, and it looked like a dwarf heron. The long plumes

were of thin, light, and dark shade ; the general colour light sandy ;

wings and under parts white. In flight, head retracted and feet

extended. Bill is straight, stout, and long. Perhaps I may yet hear

“ the bittern sound his drum, booming from the sedgy shallow.”


More good fortune awaited me. The beautiful pied fly¬

catcher appeared in the trees above the marsh, and the thrice-

repeated white and black from head to tail was noted; but from below

it was all white. Its actions in catching flies resembled exactly

those of our sober-plumaged spotted variety in that it would

frequently return to the same perch. Quite near the main stream

a kingfisher sat facing me, showing its rose-coloured breast.


The storks call for some comment. I saw them first on

March 23rd. They are majestic birds and thoroughly tame.

Chimneys in these shelled villages they have no use for, but the

many pollarded elms and poplars support their enormous nests. It

is an incongruous sight to see the birds poised on one leg upon

the nest. They have no fear of man; their nests are close above

the dug-outs and encampments. When one joins its mate, heads are

thrown backwards and forwards, and there is a loud, rapid clapping

of bills which can be heard a long way off. The lower parts of the

nest are used by jackdaws and sparrows, who are thereby saved

much labour. In these days of dearer fresh meat rations the stork s

jot is enviable; he can find an easy living in the many marshes

where the frogs abound, and day and night keep up the chorus of

Aristophanes, “ brek, kek, kek, kek,” and “ koax, koax,” each one

distending enormous transparent membranes, puffed out at the base

of the neck to the size of its own head. Yesterday I observed a stork

get up from dry ground with a great mole in its bill.


The varieties of the Raptores are very numerous ; in spite

of much questioning, few officers can help one. Dr. Lovell Keays,

whom I had the luck to meet at a field hospital, confessed that

identification is difficult. I have notes of some sixteen, which may

be of interest. The little kestrel is very common and tame, nesting

in the eaves of houses. The colours are, roughly, blue and crimson,



