Lord Lilford's Cruise in the Mediterranean. 15 



the river, we generally had an interview with large flocks of 

 Ducks of various species, principally common Wild Duck 

 and Mallard, Gargany, Pintail, Tufted Duck, Teal, Red- 

 crested Pochard, Common Pochard, and Wigcon. But as 

 the wind was generally light and did not favour us, we did 

 not succeed in bring many of these to bag. We obtained, 

 however, some fine specimens of Black-headed Gull (L, mela- 

 nocephalus) with complete black head, and one or two Sand- 

 wich Terns, which last was the only species of Sterna we ob- 

 served here. On our first visit to the marshes we found a 

 great many Snipes ; but they were very wild, I was very 

 lame, and the doctor, though he plunged gallantly into the 

 mud and water, was not accustomed to sniping, and our bag 

 was not so full at the end of the day as it might have been. 

 The doctor's Snipe-shooting' rapidly improved ; but unfortu- 

 nately the birds became scarcer every day, till, at the end of 

 time in these " cari luoghi " we had to search diligently to find 

 a Snipe at aU. The same may be said of most of the wading 

 birds, of which at first we found great numbers, such as com- 

 mon Curlew, Whimbrel, possibly Slender-billed Curlew, 

 Pewit, Golden Plover, Avocet (never abundant), Oyster- 

 catcher, Black-winged Stilt, Greenshank, Marsh-Sandpiper, 

 Dusky Redshank, Common Redshank, Green Sandpiper, 

 Wood-Sandpiper, Rufi" and Reeve, Pygmy Curlew, and Dunlin, 

 all of which we made out positively, and several of which we 

 obtained. Of the Ardeidse, we only met with Ardea cinerea 

 and the common Bittern {Botaurus stellaris), which last is 

 common and breeds in the country. The migratory Herons, 

 with the exception of the Purple {Ardea purpurea), which 

 was constantly passing but did not appear to rest in the 

 marshes, had not yet arrived in force; and, besides those 

 above mentioned, we only saw two Little Egrets {Egretta 

 garzetta) . The lagoons swarmed with Coots {Fulica atra) ; 

 and we constantly heard, but on one occasion only obtained 

 a fleeting glimpse of, the Purple Waterhen {Porphyria vete- 

 rum) . This bird is by no means rare in these marshes, but 

 seldom appears in the open water, and haunts the highest and 

 strongest reed-brakes, where it is always difficult, and often 



