6 Lord Lilford's Cruise in the Mediterranean. 



uncivil, and rapacious, to the eastward of that chain they are 

 simple-minded, lively, honest, and obliging; but no doubt 

 increasing civilization and the influx of foreigners will soon 

 change all this, and a travelling Englishman will be consi- 

 dered, as in other places, a sort of mint which issues good 

 coin without getting any thing in return but fine air and 

 such amusement as his own resources may provide for him. 

 We left Cannes January 19th, with beautiful weather ; but 

 we had no wind, and for four days just crept along the coast, 

 which is so exceedingly beautiful that we could hardly regret 

 the delay, as we were not pressed for time, and the deck of 

 a good yacht in fine weather furnishes perhaps as pleasant a 

 lounge for a convalescent as can well be imagined. At length, 

 on the morning of Jan. 22, we got a fair breeze, and arrived 

 at Genoa about 9 a.m. I had not visited this beautiful city 

 for many years, and was now prevented from going ashore 

 much by my lameness. I had the pleasure, however, of 

 making the acquaintance of the Marchese Giacomo Doria, a 

 hardworking and accurate naturalist, and an excellent good 

 fellow, who was kind enough to do me the honours of his new 

 Museo Civico on the Acquasola, to present me with various 

 scarce reptiles in spirits, and to furnish me with a great deal 

 of valuable information on all my favourite branches of zoo- 

 logy. The chief treasures of the European ornithological 

 collection in the above-mentioned Museum are the following 

 — a fine specimen of Falco eleanora, killed near Genoa, 

 many rare Buntings (e. g. Emberiza pityornis, E. aureola, 

 E. pusilla, E. lesbia, E. casia) , Turclus fuscatus, Merops per- 

 sicus, Erythrosterna parva, Actiturus bartramius, Francolinus 

 vulgaris, and, last (though not least) , that great prize of the 

 Mediterranean Larus audouini. With the exception of the 

 Francolin, all these birds were obtained in Liguria, most 

 of them in the immediate neighbourhood of Genoa ; and more 

 beautifully mounted specimens could hardly be. The Larus 

 audouini was killed near Savona, and is in winter plumage ; 

 there is, I believe, another specimen in the University Mu- 

 seum of Genoa, also obtained in the neighbourhood. The 

 Francolin was obtained by Doria from Sicily, some four or 



