407 
Egg-collecting in Asia Minor. 
Getting back to Bournabat late the same evening, I pro¬ 
ceeded by rail next morning to Aidin, which is distant about 
one hundred miles south-east from Smyrna. 1 noticed many 
birds along the line, numbers of Purple Herons and Little 
Egrets flying up from a marsh we passed through, while 
Rollers, Bee-eaters, Little Owls, and Lesser Kestrels were 
always to be seen perched on the telegraph-wires. I had 
been told that numbers of Egyptian Vultures nested in the 
cliffs behind Aidin, and as soon as we had had something 
to eat Demetrius and I sallied forth on a tour of inspection. 
We soon saw several Vultures flying round, and in the course 
of the afternoon discovered two fresh nests, neither of which 
would have been approachable without the assistance of a 
light rope-ladder which I had brought with me from England. 
There were no eggs in the first nest we examined, though it 
seemed just ready for them ; but the second nest, which was 
in a small cave, within six feet of the top of the cliff, con¬ 
tained two very handsome red-blotched eggs, which were 
slightly incubated. 
On the following morning, May 8th, we took another 
Egyptian Vulture's nest with two slightly-incubated eggs, 
and saw three other nests with the birds sitting on them, 
which we could not reach. We also found the nest of a 
Black-eared Wheatear ( Saxicola albicollis) in a hole in the 
rocks, with six fresh eggs, one of w T hich was broken in getting 
out the nest. We also saw a great many Rollers fly out of 
holes in the cliffs, as well as Little Owls ( Athene noctua) and 
Lesser Kestrels (Falco cenchris), but could find no eggs. 
Neither the Rollers nor the Lesser Kestrels had yet laid, I 
think, and the Little Owls that we disturbed were, I suppose, 
not in their nesting-holes. In the afternoon I spent three 
hours hunting for small birds' nests, among the gardens and 
fields in the plain below the town of Aidin ; but although I 
had the assistance of Demetrius and three local Greek boys, 
we found only one nest, that of an Olivaceous Warbler 
(Hypolais pallida), between us. This nest was built in the 
fork of a branch of a pomegranate-tree, about 10 feet from 
the ground ; it was very small and neatly made, with a 
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