THE IBIS. 
SEVENTH SERIES. 
No. XXIII. JULY 1900. 
XXIII .—-A Fortnight’s Eqa-collectina in Asia Minor. 
By F. C. Selous. 
Early on the morning o£ May 5th, 1899, I landed at 
Smyrna, and at once proceeded to the village of Bournabat, 
some six or seven miles distant, where I was soon discussing 
a hearty breakfast, beneath the hospitable roof-tree of my 
old friend Mr. H. O. W-. In the afternoon I walked 
out to a deep gorge through the hills, about six miles 
distant from Bournabat, where a pair of Egyptian Vultures 
was said to breed annually. My guide was an old Greek 
named Demetrius, who knew something about birds’-nesting, 
as he had accompanied Dr. Kriiper, the curator of the 
Natural History Museum at Athens, on several of his 
ornithological trips. He had not, however, imbibed much 
scientific knowledge, as he seemed to imagine that the object 
of egg-collecting was merely to get eggs of as many different 
sizes as possible. 
We were unsuccessful in discovering the nesting-site of 
the Egyptian Vultures, nor did we see any of the birds them¬ 
selves ; but a pair of Lammergeiers were soaring over the 
precipitous face of the hill above the gorge, where I have no 
doubt they had a nest with young ones, for these birds are 
very early breeders in Asia Minor. On the way home we 
found two nests of the Woodchat-Shrike (Lanius pomeranus), 
one containing two, and the other seven eggs. We also 
SER. VII.—VOL. vi. 2 E 
