Lord Lilford's Cruise in the Mediterranean. 21 



A good spot for bird-collecting is the marshy ground about 

 the saltworks on the western side of the bay, to the south 

 of the Anapo ; here we obtained many specimens of the 

 Little Ringed Plover {^gialitis minor), Wood-Sandpiper 

 {Totanus glareola), Red-throated Pipit {Anthus cervinus), 

 and other birds. We were induced by the report of the arrival 

 of Quails to make one or two expeditions in search of them ; 

 but we only found a few scattered birds, which had win- 

 tered in the country, and are known as '^ Paesane." Here 

 I may observe that I have often been surprised to see the 

 occurrence of Quails in England and other parts of Europe 

 during the winter months recorded in the Natural- History 

 columns of the ' Field ' and other publications as a remarkable 

 fact, whilst from my own experience I have noticed that 

 wherever there is a considerable arrival of Quails on their 

 spring migration, some, and in certain cases a good number, 

 will remain through the winter. This is certainly the case on 

 my own property near Preston, in Lancashire, in parts of the 

 Cambridgeshire and Norfolk fen-country, in Spain, Italy, 

 Tunis, and Epirus, as also iu many parts of Ireland. 



To return to Sicily, there is a good Snipe-marsh some seven 

 or eight miles off beyond the Scala Grecca, between the road 

 to Catania and the sea ; but, as I have before said, these birds 

 were becoming very scarce, and we shot but few of them. I 

 could not discover that any of the natives were acquainted 

 with the Hemipode [Turnix sylvatica), though specimens are 

 in the Gabinetto of Syracuse, with a local name, and in some 

 of the southern portions of Sicily it is more common than in 

 any other part of Europe. I was much amused one evening 

 by watching the arrival of countless thousands of Spanish 

 Sparrows {Passer salicicola) to roost in a thick grove of young 

 orange-trees, not far from the Roman amphitheatre ; they 

 came dropping in, in flights of from a dozen to perhaps two 

 or three hundred, from all points of the compass, and made a 

 most deafening uproar, which was at once quelled for perhaps 

 half a minute by the crack of our driver^s whip, and by the 

 sudden dash of a Sparrow-Hawk into the midst of them; I 

 could not see with what result. This species and the Rock- 



