Page:Ibis Series 10 Volume 5 1917.djvu/47

1917•] Birds observed at Erzerum. 5 Starlings being, liowevci', the most numerous. A little later they take to flighting in masses, and towards sundown every day they almost blacken the sky before settling for the uightj when they throng the branehes of the poplars, clothing them for the nonce in a sable foliage of sinister aspect against the background of endless mud-coloured flat roofs. The young are fledged about the end of May, and early in June the Starlings abandon the town for the cultivated fields and the Kara Su marshes, where they sj)end the summer. Migration seems to take place in October, but occasional flights and isolated individuals may be observed as late as the 19th of November, and I noted a couple on the 27th of December, 1911, during a spell of comparatively genial weather.

Pastor roseus. Rose-coloured Pastor.

On May 4, 1910, I observed seven or eight among a flock of Starlings close to the Tortura Gate, and two days later they were at the same spot, but by themselves. Again, on the 21st of June, a flock of about thirty flew over my house. In 1911, on June 1, I observed about twenty birds at Boghaz, and a solitary individual was recorded near my camp on August 8.

Oriolus oriolus. Golden Oriole.

I observed in 1910 one, in green plumage, on September 3, and two, also in green plumage, on September 12. On August 30, 1911, saw an adult male.

Chloris chloris. Greenfinch. One was observed on April 22, 1910.

Carduelis carduelis. Goldfinch. So far as I was able to observe, the Goldfinch does not breed in the Erzerum district, which, indeed, oflers scanty inducement to them to do so, orchards and bushes not being a feature of the local vegetation.

In 1910, I noted, on March 16 and 18, that small flights were singing among the trees in the Armenian cemetery, and others were observed on March 21 and April 8.