491 
Mr. R. B. Sharpe on Birds from Fao. 
place, returning three times a day regularly for their meals. 
It was quite amusing to watch their return from their 
rambles, seldom arriving together; those first home always 
appeared glad when the later ones arrived, advancing to meet 
them at a half flying run with open wings, cawing a sort of 
welcome, and when they met there would be a deal of bow¬ 
ing and scraping and a little dance, partaken in by the new 
arrivals; then they would run olf to their roosting-place, 
where a second performance would be gone through by the 
whole company, a sort of “ all hands round 99 ! 
They all came to an unfortunate end. The Arabs con¬ 
sider these birds a great delicacy as an article of food, and 
unfortunately all my birds one after the other fell victims to 
the Arab sportsman. As each was shot, the rest appeared to 
mourn their loss greatly; for all through the night at intervals 
they would give a single caw, repeated on each occasion four 
or five times. The next day they refused their food till late 
in the day and kept in the vicinity of the telegraph buildings 
for two or three days, after which they gained confidence and 
went out on their former excursions. All met the same fate.] 
80. Herodias garzetta (L.) ; Blanf. t. c. p. 296. 
[No. 110. Resident. Supposed to breed near Abdulla 
Bank.] 
81. Ardea comata, Pall. 
Ardea ralloides, Dresser, B. Eur. vi. p. 251. 
[No. 32. Resident. Supposed to breed in same localities 
as Demiegretta gularis.] 
82. Bubulcus ibis, Bp. 
Ardea ibis , Blanf. t. c. p. 296. 
[No. 60. Resident. Supposed to breed in the same 
localities as Demiegretta gularis.'] 
83. Nycticorax griseus (L.); Blanf. t. c. p. 296. 
[Nos. 18, 20. Arriving in October and leaving in May. 
One or two large flocks frequent the same clump of date- 
trees yearly.] 
