44 Mr. C. A. Wright's List of the Birds 



suddenly springing up from any point will bring with it num- 

 bers of the smaller birds ; and if it increase in strength, the larger 

 kinds and those of greater powers of flight will also make their 

 appearance. But there appears to be no rule for birds strong 

 on the wing, which arrive under all circumstances of weather 

 and with winds from all points of the compass. 



It will be seen from this list that Malta can boast of none 

 but European forms ; but this is not surprising, when we con- 

 sider that, from an ornithological point of view, the northern 

 coast of Africa, from Tunis to Cape Spartel, is not much more 

 than a province of Europe, and that the avifauna of Tripoli, 

 although having relations with Egypt, is mostly European. 



Malta is so little known to English readers, except in its 

 qualities of a fortress and a coaling-station, and so generally con- 

 sidered as little more than a huge rock, that ornithology in con- 

 nexion with it seems almost paradoxical. Burnt up and barren 

 under the African sun of its summer, with the rains of winter it 

 rises, like a phoenix, from its ashes to verdure and life. It 

 more especially in spring that in the rocky ' wieds ' we find the 

 bright-coloured Bee-eaters, Orioles, and Rollers sheltering them- 

 selves from boisterous winds, while the dense foliage of the 

 Carob-trees {Ceratonia siliqua) and orange-groves serve them 

 and many others for shade and roosting-places. At this season 

 the Harriers scour the rocks and corn-fields ; the Quails crouch 

 amongst the tangled stalks of the crimson ' Sulla' {Hedysarum 

 coronarium) ; the Larks [Alauda brachydactyla) hover over the 

 rocky wastes, covered with the aromatic-smelling Thymus capi- 

 talus ; and the numerous thickets of prickly pear {Cactus opun- 

 tia), fig- and pomegranate-trees, provide resting-places for 

 Warblers. The air is perfumed by thousands of wild flowers ; 

 here and there rises a tall palm ; and the Arab houses, language, 

 and origin of the inhabitants indicate, despite Acts of Parlia- 

 ment and a European fauna, Malta's alliance with Africa and 

 the East. 



1. Neophron percnopterus. (Egyptian Vulture.) 



Aikla, Maltese. 



This is the only species of Vulture which I have observed in 

 Malta, and it is merely an accidental visitor. A specimen in my 



