LIFE IN FOBEIGN LANDS. 
419 
flocks, and often in company with the Lesser Kestrel, 
though never associating with the native allied species. 
It is with a certain amount of pleasant surprise that one 
discovers that the Owl we have just flushed from the 
plain is none other than our old friend and acquaintance 
the Short-eared Owl (Otus brachyotus ), and sometimes one 
is fortunate enough to come across a family of the 
pretty little Scops-eared Owl, which has chosen the 
thickly-leaved crown of a tree for a hiding-place during 
the day. The Swift may be seen pursuing its rapid fight 
out of the true migrating season, as also the Common 
Swallow,—the two South European Bee-eaters (Merops 
apicister and M. persicus ), both in mixed flocks, collected 
in every available and eligible situation; the Boiler is 
met with in similar localities; and here and there 
Cuckoo and Oriole may be found in the woods. Each 
herd of cattle is accompanied by our Yellow Wagtail, and 
almost every other European species of the same family; 
in every suitable meadow and sandy heath the Tawny and 
Tree Pipits, or any of the European migratory Saxicolince , 
are to be found; the Shrikes sit perched on some prominent 
branch, in accordance with their usual habit; while the 
different Warblers thread the denser thickets, hiding 
themselves from observation. Upon the islands, on the 
banks of the streams, by the side of and on the fresh¬ 
water lakes and ponds, the same sort of bustle and life 
may be observed as that which exists on the Egyptian 
lagoons, though the company collected on the latter is 
somewhat more varied than it is here. The live-long 
day, the traveller descending any of the streams will 
see either side lined with, and every island in the 
stream covered with, hundreds of thousands of Wading 
and Swimming Birds. A similar sight may be witnessed 
