6 lion. T. L. Powys on Birds 



and the shepherds begged us not to kill them, as they bred 

 there year after year, and kept away other birds of prey which 

 were destructive to their lambs. When my servant was within 

 a few feet of the nest, a large snake put his head out of a hole 

 and hissed fiercely at him, but he having crossed himself and 

 implored the aid of St. Spiridione, the patron of Corfu, went 

 )x)ldly on and took the eggs, which are now in the possession of 

 ]\Ir. Alfred Newton. All the birds of this species which I ob- 

 served in Turkey and Greece were in adult plumage. 



10. OsPREY. [Pandion haliaetus.) 



Appeal's in Corfu and Epirus in March and September in 

 considerable numbers. 



11. Short-toed Eagle. {Cir cactus gallicus.) 



I saw a Short-toed Eagle near Paleocastrizza in the island of 

 Corfu, on the 7th of June, 1858. This was the only occasion on 

 which I observed it in that part of Europe. I had previously 

 become acquainted with this species near Tunis, and have since 

 observed it, and obtained a specimen near Nice. I may here 

 mention that I received a fine specimen of this bird alive from 

 the Crimea in 1856. The favourite food of this individual was 

 fish; and from what I have observed of the habits of these birds 

 in a wild state, I should say that their food consists chiefly of 

 reptiles and small fish, which they catch in the shallow lagoons 

 and marshes. My bird was very fierce and untameable ; and I 

 have been informed by persons who have kept this species in 

 captivity that it is generally wilder and more intractable than 

 any other raptorial bird. 



12. Honey Buzzard. {Pernis apivora.) 



There is an immature specimen of this bird stuffed at Corfu, 

 which was killed in the island by a friend of mine who has re- 

 sided many years in the Ionian Islands and is fond of orni- 

 thology. He assured me it is the only one of this species that 

 he ever saw, or heard of, cither in the islands or in Albania. I 

 saw a bird which I can assign to no other species, in an olive- 

 grove near Prevesa in Epiius on the 21st of March, 1857. 



13. Common Buzzakd. [Buteo imlgnris.) 



This bird was very coinnion in Corfu and Epirus during the 



