414 
Mr. F. C. Selous on 
river, halfway between a large open lake and a vast marsh 
almost entirely covered with reeds. The water of both the 
lake and the marsh is brackish, but not exactly salt. The 
Greek to whom we had brought a letter of introduction 
we found to be a very intelligent-looking, civil, and obliging 
man ; he kept a sort of inn, and rented a fishery on the 
lake from the Turkish Government. Noticing many Lesser 
Kestrels flying in and out of the loft above the inn, we at 
once explored it and found several clutches of eggs, smaller 
and lighter in colour than those of the Common Kestrel. 
In some cases a slight apology for a nest had been made, but 
more often the eggs were laid in some inequality of the floor 
of the loft. Just outside the inn a large tree was growing, 
among the rather scanty foliage of which I noticed a nest 
suspended at the end of a long thin branch, at a height of 
about 25 feet from the ground. It proved to be that of a 
Penduline Tit (JEgithalus pendulinus ), but was not quite 
ready for eggs. This nest was beautifully made of a kind 
of wild cotton closely felted together, cameFs hair being 
used to attach it to the branch at the end of which it hung. 
In shape it closely resembled the nest of a Long-tailed Tit, 
but the entrance-hole, instead of being flush with the side, 
was at the extremity of a neatly-made passage, over an inch 
in length and less than an inch in diameter. From the 
inland plains of Asia Minor, where sheep and camels are 
numerous, I have seen nests of the Penduline Tit made 
entirely from the wool and hair of these animals. 
After we had had something to eat, Mr. B. H- and 
I started for the marsh. We were accompanied by our own 
two servants, and two or three local men who were to act as 
guides, all of us being mounted. We first crossed the 
Meander on a ferry, and then rode some two or three miles 
across an open plain, to the edge of the marsh. While 
crossing the plain we saw several large flocks of Bose- 
coloured Pastors (Pastor roseus), which frequently settled 
on the ground. I believe that these birds are late breeders, 
and fancy that those we saw were on their way to their 
breeding-grounds. 
