Mediterranean Ornithology. 279 



to me two nestlings of the Blue Rock Thrush, but they were 

 much too young to keep, and the finders promised, for a 

 small consideration, to put them back into their nest. We 

 shot another Audouin^s Gull from the deck of the yacht, and 

 added the Common Buzzard, Cirl Bunting, Goldfinch, and 

 Sandwich Tern to our list of birds identified in this locality. 

 On May 7th some Neapolitan fishermen brought us a very 

 large Turtle {Thalassochehjs caouana) alive, which I bought, 

 and, after various experiments in the way of feeding, at 

 length persuaded to take fresh sardines and anchovies very 

 readily. This animal was eventually domiciled in the Rep- 

 tile House in the Regent's Park, and lived there in apparently 

 good health for a considerable time. Fi'omMay 6th to 11th 

 the weather was so rough that we could do next to nothing 

 in the way of boating ; two or three more Audouin's Gulls 

 were shot from the yacht's deck, but only appeared in 

 couples or singly. We obtained specimens of the Black-headed 

 Warbler [Sylvia melanocephala) , Dartford Warbler {Melizo- 

 philus undatus), Sardinian Warbler {M. sardus), and Pied 

 Flycatcher on San Stefano ; also a nest containing four 

 young Blue Rock Thrushes, of which the sole survivor is at 

 my elbow as I write, and has for nearly five years been my 

 almost constant and very amusing companion. Amongst 

 other peculiarities, this bird, though it has moulted every 

 year in August and September, and is in perfect health, has 

 never assumed the uniform dark blue plumage of maturity, 

 and is now (March 1887), slowly completing an abnormal 

 moult into a still greyer stage of dress than that which it 

 assumed in September 1886. 



The morning of the 11th May was fine and calm, so we 

 started early in the steam-launch to explore the Barretini 

 islets, which lie a few miles to the north-west of Maddalena. 

 On our way we stopped to examine a few heaps of isolated 

 rocks, hardly worthy of the name of islands, lying a short 

 distance from the western and north-western coast of Madda- 

 lena, and found several nests of Rock Doves containing eggs, 

 several empty but fresh nests of Common Swift, and many 

 young and a few eggs of Herring Gull, but did not even see 



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