218 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



brought them their dinner. Below Dushet I saw a Hawk that 

 was quite unfamiliar to me. He flew with a constant and 

 regular flapping of his short, broad wings, until he skimmed 

 close over the ground, at a height of only a foot or two. I 

 could not detect his general colour nor the angle of his wings. 



At Dushet I caught a glimpse of a Greenfinch (zelenushka), 

 Chloris Moris, L., which occurs throughout the Caucasus, but 

 is commoner near the shores of the Black Sea. There are 

 several species of Larks (0/iara?'m/d) in the valley of the Kura ; 

 the commonest were Melanocorypha calanclra, L., ?indi Galerida 

 cristata caucasica, Tacz. At Mtskhet I saw he first Starling 

 (akvorets) . The Starling is the joy of the specialist, as there are 

 no less than nine subspecies in the Caucasus. The typical form 

 is only a winter migrant ; the Caucasian Starling occurs in the 

 northern Caucasus and eastern Transcaucasus. Satunin's 

 Starling occurs also in the Transcaucasus, and the Purple 

 Starling in the West Caucasus and region of Kars ; the Crimean 

 Starling is found in the north-western part of the Kuban 

 province. Menzbier's Starling winters in the Transcaucasus ; 

 Sturnus vulgaris intermedius, Praz., has been recorded from the 

 Government of Kutais, and Jitkov's Starling is a winter visitor. 

 Near Kobi, I caught a glimpse of Pastor roseus. 



Near Mtskhet I saw a pair of Egyptian Vultures, Neophro7i 

 perchojJterus, L., {sterviatnik) , sitting on the ground by the 

 roadside, and I caught a glimpse of the Grey Vulture, Gyps 

 ftdvus, L., {si}}.). 



Eighteen versts from Mtskhet brings us to Tiflis. The 

 spring of 1915 had been so unusually wet, owing to the heavy 

 fall of late snow on the mountains to the east, that the hills 

 round the town were still green in the middle of June, by which 

 time, as a rule, they are burnt brown. For eight days after my 

 arrival in Tiflis rain fell every day^ — usually all day ; this was 

 considered most unusual. It was a bad sign that the clouds 

 came, not from Europe nor from the mountains on the Georgian 

 Koad, but from the wine-growing district of Kakheti, and it is a 

 local saying that rain from Kakheti lasts many days. This is 

 chiefly noticeable, it seems, from the fact that rain from Kakheti 

 is a relatively rare phenomenon. It was certainly a surprise 

 to me to see heavy, clouds blowing up from the eastern steppes. 



