Lord Lilford's Cruise in the Mediterranean. 25 



much as it did in 1862, on the occasion of my last visit to 

 Sardinia, in spite of the talk one hears in Italy about the 

 progress and increasing civilization of the island, the accom- 

 plished fact of a railroad, &c. Our good friends the Sards 

 seemed to us very much in the same state as twelve years 

 ago ; and I was glad to find their extreme civility and hospi- 

 tality unchanged. It was refreshing to be able to walk 

 about the town and drive into the country unmolested, after 

 our experience of the ruffianly swarms of rapacious beggars 

 of Naples, and more especially of Messina and Catania, and 

 without any fear of the brigands who infest the western 

 parts of Sicily. I have found the Sards of all classes most 

 courteous to strangers, and experienced hospitality from 

 them not surpassed even in the wilder portions of beloved 

 Spain. Of course our first visit was to the Great Stagno or 

 Lagoon, just to the westward of the town. The water was 

 very low, and we could not get far in the yacht's cutter ; so 

 with some difficulty we landed on the large island nearest to 

 the town, shot a few birds, and saw a good many others — 

 Marsh-Harriers in great abundance, Kestrels, Rose-breasted 

 Shrike, Hoopoe, many of the commoner Hirundines, abun- 

 dance of Warblers {Sylvia melanocephala, S. cinerea, S. cisti- 

 cola, Philomela luscinia, S. subqlpina), Calandra and Short- 

 toed Larks, Stonechat, Common Bunting, Turtle Dove, Thick- 

 knee, some small Waders which we could not distinguish. 

 Common Quails, Coots [Larus leucophceus) , Sandwich Terns, 

 and a few young Cormorants {Phalacrocorax carbo) . I met 

 at the passage into the Stagno from the sea an old friend, 

 one Antonio Fanni, who had been ray guide in my shooting- 

 expeditions on many former occasions ; and we arranged with 

 him to take us into the heart of the lagoons the next day. 

 We were delayed by visitors in the morning ; and it blew so 

 hard that we could do but little. We went right away to 

 the far north-west corner of the lagoon, and for some 

 distance up a very birdy river. We got quite close to a 

 Black Vulture, who was busily engaged on a dead horse. I 

 gave him both barrels at some fifteen yards ; but he seemed 

 rather to take my salute as a compliment, and I only got a 



