Ornithology of the Mediterranean. 271 



does the Cuckoo hurry to the south as soon as she has laid her 

 eggs ? I cannot help inclining to the idea that Starlings are 

 partial migrants ; for I have met them at sea in the migratory 

 season : while the Robin, I am certain, migrates regularly ; for I 

 have very frequently met them at a long distance from the land; 

 besides which, an ornithological friend of mine records it as a 

 regular passenger through Malta. 



Another thing that is not sufficiently considered when birds 

 appear out of their correct geographical range is the lifts that 

 they get from ships, floating objects, &c. I recollect myself 

 a Russet Wheatear [Saxicola stapazina) favouring us with its 

 company in the ship for two days, only leaving when we got to 

 Malta, and subsisting quite contentedly the while on flies, &c. 

 The stomachs of migratory birds are generally empty, or the 

 contents of them might sometimes indicate whence they had 

 started. 



Malta I found to be a capital place for investigating the 

 habits of birds, owing to the complete command one has over 

 the whole island; because the many native shooters who are 

 spread over it shoot any birds directly they appear, and send 

 them into the market. Thus, if a flight of Quails, Doves, or 

 Owls come in during the night, they are all shot in the morning, 

 in the market at noon, and eaten by the evening ; for the Maltese 

 are an omnivorous nation, and are not at all averse to eating Owls, 

 Bee-eaters, Hoopoes, &c. The number of birds indigenous to 

 this island is very small, consisting of only ten species ; but the 

 visitors, regular, irregular, and accidental, amount respectively 

 to 143, 98, and 9, whilst 15 of these occasionally stop to nidi- 

 ficate*. Four miles from the south shore of Malta lies Filfola, a 

 small, rugged, uninhabited island. On one occasion I spent a day 

 there, and found the Manx and Cinereous Shearwaters very plen- 

 tiful, running about their breeding-places in the clefts of the 

 rock. Higher up on the cliff Rock-Doves and Domestic Pigeons 

 nested in abundance ; the latter had entirely reverted to the 

 original wild state of their congeners. Malta is generally consi- 

 dered a barren, desolate rock ; but it is not nearly so black as it is 

 painted. Besides being an island of great interest to the na- 



* For these numbers I am indebted to Mr. C. A. Wright. — R. M. S. 



