Mediterranean Ornithology . 281 



Spargi in every direction to a considerable distance, but 

 although they found some six or seven nests, nothing but 

 broken fragments of egg-shells rewarded their search; we 

 were not only baffled, but completely puzzled, as it was obvi- 

 ous that the eggs had not been hatched. None of the Gulls 

 exhibited any traces of having incubated, and it was natural 

 to suppose that had the nests been visited by the Neapolitans, 

 or the two swineherds who were established on the island, 

 they would have carried off the eggs without breaking them ; 

 besides this, we could discover no tracks of any sort about 

 the nests but those of the Gulls, so that, literally speaking, 

 the circumstantial evidence was favourable to the innocence 

 of fishermen, swineherds, swine, and goats. Our old guide 

 could not say whether there were any rats on this island, 

 but declared positively that there were none of the dreaded 

 'pontici,' thereon; and e/ rats were the robbers in this instance, 

 they must have been endowed with a marvellovis power of 

 leaving no footmarks on the sand, so we came to the con- 

 clusion that the guilt lay with the Ravens, although my own 

 experience of these birds is that they usually drive their 

 beaks into the thick end of an egg and suck out the contents 

 without further breakage, as they fly. Our only plan, then, 

 was to try and forestall these black thieves; and as the Gulls 

 could hardly have finished laying, I despatched my captain 

 with a boat's crew before daylight the next morning with 

 orders to land and visit the nests as soon as they could see ; 

 but all in vain ! he found the Gulls roosting on the same 

 spot, but nothing more in the way of their productions, and 

 a third visit to the spot proved equally fruitless ; though the 

 Gulls remained, and seemed very unwilling to leave the 

 special locality. After our first search, as above recorded, 

 we cruised round the northern end of Spargi, discovering a 

 copious spring of fresh water in a little creek, and a Falcon's 

 eyrie in a high crag, about which both of the old birds were 

 circling and screaming. 



Spargiotto consists of a pile of huge rocks which look as 

 if they had been pitched one above the other by Titans at 

 play ; amongst these we found many Rock Doves, Blue 



