Page:Ibis Series 10 Volume 5 1917.djvu/45

1917.] Birds observed at Erztrain. 3 account of its running waters and small grooves of trees, which make it an attractive haven of rest for thousands of migrants.

In putting together these notes I have, in the m:un, adhered to the nomenclature adopted in the recently pul)lished B. O. U. list, and I desire to express my obligations to Dr. E. Hartert and Dr. W. Eagle Clarke, who have kindly read through the!MS. and given me invaluable encouragement and assistance.

Corvus frugilegus. Rook.

In 1910 I noticed the first Rook on March 16, and on the succeeding days, the weather being sunny and windless, I saw small parties winging their way northwards towards the Kop Dagh Pass. It was not, liowever, until the 20th of the month that the Rooks appeared in numbers in the town and neighbourhood, and on the 30th they had begun to repair their nests. They seem to take their departure early in October, the last flock having been observed on October 12, 1911; but I have seen stray birds in company with Jackdaws as late as the 1st of December.

Corvus monedula. Jackdaw. The ramparts, as well as the mosques and other public buildings, swarm with these birds and every house shelters a pair or two in its Avails or halfway down its chimney. The Erzerum Jackdaws all belong to one pronounced type, the nuchal collar being of a very silvery grey, passing in many instances into pure white, and they would thus appear to belong to the subspecies C. m. collaris. Partial albinism is not uncommon, and one bird which haunted my house had half the pinions of the right wing snowy white.

Most of the Jackdaws seem to remain paired during the winter, and when, as appears often to be the case, food is scarce, they present a doleful picture, perching with ruffled plumage in the bare poplar trees, or on the projecting beamends with which every house bristles. Towards evening, however, the entire Jackdaw population rises in a vast black