small gray partridge
in the Zagros range, which the Kurds call seslca. The bee-eater (_Merops
Persicus_) is rare. It is a bird of passage, and only visits Media
in the autumn, preparatory to retreating into the warm district of
Mazandoran for the winter months. The hoopoe (_Upupa_) is probably still
rarer, since very few travellers mention it. The woodpecker is found in
Zagros, and is a beautiful bird, red and gray in color.

Media is, on the whole, but scantily provided with fish. Lake Urumiyeh
produces none, as its waters are so salt that they even destroy all the
river-fish which enter them. Salt streams, like the Aji Su, are equally
unproductive, and the fresh-water rivers of the plateau fall so low
in summer that fish cannot become numerous in them. Thus it is only in
Zagros, in Azerbijan, and in the Elburz, that the streams furnish any
considerable quantity. The kinds most common are barbel, carp, dace,
bleak, and gudgeon. In a comparatively few streams, more especially
those of Zagros, trout are found, which are handsome and of excellent
quality. The river of Isfahan produces a kind of crayfish, which is
taken in the bushes along its banks, and is very delicate eating.

It is remarkable that fish are caught not only in the open streams of
Media, but also in the _kanats_ or underground conduits, from which
the light of day is very nearly excluded. They appear to be of one sort
only, viz., barbel, but are abundant, and often grow to a considerable
size. Chardin supposed them to be unfit for food; but a later observer
declares that, though of no great delicacy, they are "perfectly sweet
and wholesome."

Of reptiles, the most common are snakes, lizards, and tortoises. In the
long grass of the Moghan district, on the lower course of the Araxes,
the snakes are so numerous and venomous that many parts of the plain are
thereby rendered impassable in the summer-time. A similar abundance
of this reptile near the western entrance of the Girduni Siyaluk pass
induces the natives to abstain from using it except in winter. Lizards
of many forms and hues disport themselves about the rocks and stones,
some quite small, others two feet or more in length. They are quite
harmless, and appear to be in general very tame. Land tortoises are also
common in the sandy regions. In Kurdistan there is a remarkable frog,
with a smooth skin and of an apple-green color, which lives chiefly in
trees, roosting in them at night, and during the d