Ornithology of the Crimea S^c. 225 



Ibis' so long after date. The thirteen published volumes of 

 * The Ibis ' contain no article treating of the localities 1 visited ; 

 nor am I aware that any ornithological notes on the birds of 

 the Crimea have ever been published, except those of Lieutenants 

 Blakiston and Irby, in the 'Zoologist' for 1857, and of Dr. 

 William Carte, in the ' Journal of the Royal Dublin Society ' for 

 February of the same year. The observations of these gentlemen 

 were confined more or less to the camp before Sevastopol ; while 

 mine, as I shall presently show, had a much wider range. 



I had fortunately rare opportunities and great facilities for 

 moving about and visiting the localities to which I shall allude. 



My first arrival in Constantinople was from Egypt and 

 Malta, on the 21st of March 1854. After remaining there two 

 months, I returned to England. I went out again in October, 

 and reached the Crimea on the 26th of that month, the 

 morning after the battle of Balaklava, and took up my resi- 

 dence with the Second Division. There I remained until 

 several days after the battle of Inkerman, when I went to stay 

 on board the * Agamemnon/ in which ship I experienced the 

 destructive gale of the 14th of November. On the 29th of that 

 month I went back to Constantinople. 



In January I again visited the Crimea, proceeding thence to 

 Eregli (or Heraclea), on the coast of Asia Minor. In February 

 I went to Khania, in the island of Crete, on board the ' Trent * 

 steamer (since famous as having been the ship from which the 

 Confederate Commissioners, Messrs. Mason and Slidell, were 

 lifted by Commodore Wilkes), on an expedition to buy mules 

 for army transport, these same mules being the foundation on 

 which the Land Transport Corps was afterwards built. In 

 another steamer, and on a similar expedition, I visited Ismid, 

 on the Sea of Marmora. But the most satisfactory excursion 

 I made, and the one most prolific of ornithology, was when, in 

 May, I was so fortunate as to accompany the expedition to 

 Kertch, and go with the allied squadron through the Sea of 

 Azov, on board the ' Stromboli,' then commanded by my 

 lamented friend Captain Cowper Coles, since lost with the 

 turret-ship ' Captain,' who kindly asked me to accompany him 

 on that most interesting trip, the pleasures of which I shall 



SER. III. VOL. II. s 



