272 Lord Liliord— Notes on 



Garibaldi^ who lay dying at his house on Caprera, which was 

 in sight from our anchorage. The strong easterly wind 

 which swept in strong gusts about the intricate channels 

 amongst the islands made things unpleasant and prevented 

 our doing any boating exploration during the afternoon. A 

 few Herring GuUs^ a Kestrel, two Common Terns, and some 

 Shags were the only birds seen. We kept a loaded gun 

 ready on deck in case of a visit from Audouin's Gull^ of 

 which we had impressed a description upon the minds of all 

 our officers. 



Early on the morning of May 2nd, having discovered an 

 old shipwright who said that he knew everything, we engaged 

 him to pilot us about the rocky channels and creeks of the 

 straits in search of birds and nests, and started with him in 

 our steam-launch to explore some little rocky islets in the 

 channel that separates the island of Maddalena from Caprera. 

 We found two or three nests of the Herring Gull on sandy 

 spots among the rugged granite boulders of which these little 

 islands are formed, each nest containing three hard-set eggs. 

 Our old guide scrambled to one or two empty nests of the 

 Rock Dove on the western shore of Caprera : a pair of 

 Ospreys were constantly in sight, a Bonelli^'s Eagle hung 

 in the breeze over the centre ridge of Caprera, Shags in all 

 stages of plumage were fishing in every direction and drying 

 their plumage with outspread wings on the numerous blocks 

 and ridges of rock that crop up in many places a few feet 

 above the water ; and a pair or two of Common Terns hovered 

 over the few sandy beaches of this rocky wilderness. The 

 old native told us that many Shearwaters bred upon a small 

 island off the southern end of Caprera, between it and the 

 mainland of Sardinia, but did not hold out much hope of 

 finding eggs, as the said island, '^ Porco " by name^ is a 

 favourite resort of the Neapolitan fishermen who frequent 

 these waters, and is also, as our informant averred, infested 

 by rats of such huge dimensions and ferocity as to make it 

 dangerous to sleep ashore ! This story naturally excited our 

 curiosity, and we coasted along the shores of Caprera for 

 two miles, startling some Barbary Partridges, Caccabis 



