■Birds in South Russia. 
463 
1921.] 
He informed me that the following subspecies have 
already been described and recognised by the Russians :— 
Coccothraustes coccolhraustes nigricans. 
Fringilla coslehs solomki. 
Fringilla carduelis nikolski. 
Clitoris clitoris mensfieri. 
Picus major pinetorum. 
Cyanistes cceruleus hrauheri. 
Acredula rosea taurica. 
Sturnus vulgaris tauricus. 
Certhia certhia buturlini. 
Troglodytes parvulus hyrcanus. 
Of the foregoing I obtained skins of the Chaffinch 
Mackenzie Heights, 20. vi. 20, and $ Mackenzie Heights, 
20. vi. 20), Greenfinch ( $ Mackenzie Heights, 21. vi. 20), and 
Blue Tit (? Mackenzie Heights, 20. vi. 20). The first two 
Dr. Hartert assigns, without comment, to Fringilla c. ccelehs 
and Clitoris c. clitoris respectively, whilst he finds the last 
skin to be too bad for identification of the subspecies. 
Specimens of the Tree-Pipit ( Anthust . trivialis ) and of the 
Red-backed Shrike ( Lanius c. collurio ) * were also obtained 
in June from the Mackenzie Heights and Inker man. 
The Bee-eater (Merops apiaster ) is not uncommon, and 
was frequently seen perching on telegraph-wires. These 
birds do not appear to form colonies here as they are said to 
do in Spain. The Rook ( Corvus f. frugilegus ) is very 
common everywhere, and small rookeries are seen all over 
the Crimea. 
On the steppes there are vast numbers of Larks. The 
Great Bustard ( Otis tarda) was often met with, and 
companies of three or four birds were more than once seen 
circling in ponderous flight over the plain. The Hoopoe 
( Upupa e. epops) is a very common species in the Crimea, a 
few pairs frequenting the vicinity of every village. One 
* Dr. Hartert says of my specimen of the Red-backed Shrike: “There 
is a supposed Caucasian race, but its characters and distribution are 
doubtful; it is supposed to have less rufous on the back and smaller bill, 
but both characters are quite doubtful and variable. This specimen 
agrees with some others not from the Caucasus.” 
