Lord Lilford's Cruise in the Mediterranean. \7 



in their covers, we did not obtain a specimen ; and I do not 

 like to record the occurrence of a species so similar to the 

 common Swallow as a positive fact, though the bird is by no 

 means uncommon on passage in several parts of Sicily. 

 Cotyle rupestris I saw in the craters of the Monte Rossi, above 

 Nicolosi ; C. riparia was the least common of the family. I 

 noticed many Blackbirds and Song-Thrushes on the skirts of 

 the marshes ; and Black Redstarts are common and resident 

 in all suitable localities. The reed-brakes and swamps teem 

 with Warblers, amongst which Cetti's Warbler is conspicuous 

 by his thrilling note ; I recognized also the song of Savi's 

 Warbler [Calamodyta luscinioides) , oxnr common Reed- and 

 Sedge- Warblers (C. arundinacea and C . phragmitis) . Cisti- 

 cola schoenicola is very abundant ; and in the dense jungle of 

 the Pantani there were at least three other species, probably 

 Calamodyta aquatica, C. melanopogon, and another which I 

 had never heard and, I think, never seen before ; but I must 

 here make a sad ornithological confession, and state that 

 whilst exploring these marshes I was always on the special 

 look-out for Porphyrio veterum, and my gun was loaded with 

 large shot, so that I fired at nothing smaller than the Duck 

 tribe. The above-mentioned Warblers, with the exception of 

 C. schcBnicola, frequent the dense beds of reeds and flags in 

 some five or six feet of water and mud, whilst Sylvia atricapilla 

 was common amongst the brambles of the dryer portions of 

 the marsh. ^S^. melanocephala I noticed in the Zoological 

 Gardens of Catania, where it was evidently nesting in the 

 shrubberies ; and this, I think, brings me to an end of the 

 family. I may state that all the above-mentioned Sylviidae 

 and many other species are recorded from Sicily by various 

 authors ; and a more suitable home for them than the Pantani 

 could hardly be imagined. In the market of Catania I met 

 with no birds that I did not see alive out in the country. 

 Calandra Larks, Goldfinches, Greenfinches, and Serins are 

 the favourite song-birds, and Passer salicicola the only 

 Sparrow we met with. 



We drove out to the famous lake of Lentini, about fifteen 

 miles from Catania, on 23rd March. This is a fine sheet of 



SER. III. VOL. V. c 



