274 Lord Lilford — Notes on 



dalena. On arriving on board the yacht, we found that the 

 mate had killed a beautiful Audouiu's Gull from the deck 

 with a rifle-ball, at a distance, as he declared, of 300 yards. 

 Be that as it may, the bird was quite undamaged as a speci- 

 men, in perfect adult plumage, but considerably smaller than 

 any of this species that I had previously met with, and dif- 

 fered from them also in the colour of legs and feet, which in 

 this bird were of a dusky olive-green, those of the former 

 being almost black, with a trace of lead-colour. The Trojan 

 recognized the bird at once as " Cirulia ■" (the common Sardi- 

 nian name of Totanus hypoleucus) , and said that, although a 

 few of them frequented the neighbourhood of Maddalena 

 during the summer, he could not be certain about ever having 

 found their nests. 



On the following morning, about 8 a.m., I was summoned 

 on deck by the news that a " red-billed Gull " was hovering 

 around our ship ; and sure enough there was another " Au- 

 douiu,"" with some dozen Herring Gulls, picking up the refuse 

 of the crowds breakfast close to our stern. I sent for a gun, 

 but though I had a very easy shot, somehow managed to miss 

 my bird altogether. The morning was rough and wet, and 

 as something had gone wrong with the propeller of our launch, 

 we remained on board till about 2.30 p.m., and then went 

 off in the cutter to examine the western side of Maddalena. 

 This consists for the most part of cliff's of considerable 

 height, with masses of huge rocks in the wildest confusion 

 at their base; in one of these cliff's we discovered a little 

 cavity, at perhaps a hundred feet above the sea, from which 

 proceeded a loud and continuous screaming of young Hawks. 

 On our firing a shot or two at the few liock Doves that 

 dashed out of the detritus at the foot of the cliff", a male 

 Falcon flew out from a ledge above the cavity just mentioned, 

 but we did not see the female bird. After surveying the spot 

 as far as was possible from our boat, with a view to attempt- 

 ing an attack on the nest on a future occasion, we coasted the 

 western side of Maddalena in a northerly direction for some 

 distance. We shot another beautiful specimen of Audouin's 

 Gull, but made no fresh discoveries, except that of a Raven^s 



