On Birds from the Bend Sea and Arabia . 
475 
16. Nycticorax griseus Linn. 
Samarkand. 7 June, 1908. 
17. Botaurus stellaris Linn. 
Samarkand. 19 Dec., 1907. 
18. Ciconia alba Bechst, 
This is a summer migrant to the Zarafschan Valley, where 
it breeds in May, building in the trees and on the minarets 
and domes of the mosques. 
19. Totanus calidris Linn. 
Samarkand. 10 Oct., 1907, and 7 June, 1908. 
20. Gallinago ccelestis (Frenzel). 
Samarkand. 25 Oct., 1907. 
21. Otis tarda Linn. 
Bokhara. 7 Nov., 1907. A winter migrant. 
22. Coturnix communis Bonn. 
A very common summer visitor, but occasionally met with 
also in winter. The birds are captured in great quantities 
b) the natives, and used for fighting purposes. 
XXI.— On a Collection of Birds from the Dead Sea and 
North-western Arabia , with Contributions to the Ornithology 
of Syria and Palestine, By Douglas Carruthers., 
F.R.G.S., M.B.O.U. 
(Plate IX. and Text-figure 5.) 
During the journeys which I made in the early part of 1909 
to the Dead Sea, the uplands of Moab, and the deserts of 
North-western Arabia, I formed a small collection of birds, 
and made a certain number of notes on the ornithology of 
these little-known countries. Scarcely any work has been 
done in these districts since Tristram’s day, and the range 
of his explorations extended no further than the Land of 
Moab. Indeed, I cannot find that any ornithologist has 
penetrated into the country lying to the south-east, towards 
the Hedjaz provinces of Arabia. 
