Ornithology of Cyprus. 57'? 



licptilcs, and Fishes, his manuscript being puhHslicd in 

 1818 by the Ilev. Robert Walpole. His work was the real 

 foundation of all the subsequent publications relative to the 

 ornitholojcy of the island, althouj;li not hitherto fully 

 acknowledged as such by later writers. 



Sibthorp appears to have been a tlioroughly sound, 

 cultivated aud well-read naturalist, and in his interesting 

 journal he recognises and comments upon the migratory 

 character of many of the species which he identified, aud the 

 composite nature of the avifauna of the island. lie stayed 

 in Cyprus for at least six weeks in April and May, and seems 

 to have made a fairly complete tour, including a visit to the 

 Tro(')dos range. He gives a list of some eighty-one species 

 of birds, exclusive of domesticated varieties : he was not quite 

 sure of the proper identification of a few, but he provides tlie 

 Linnean nomenclature for those as to which he was certain, 

 and the local Greek names of a large number. He identihed 

 the Raven, Hooded Crow, Jackdaw, and IMagpie; met with the 

 Jay on Troodos; noticed the Koller, Golden Oriole, Cuckoo, 

 Bee-cater, aud Hoopoe; found a Vulture (which he could not 

 distiiigui.sh), the Common Kestrel, and several other s[)eeies 

 of Hawks which were new to him, the Little Owl, Mallard, 

 Garganey (which was probably the Teal), Cormorant, and 

 t'olyvihus uurilus [i. e. either the Sclavonian or Eared Grebe), 

 the Black-headed, Greater Black-backed, Common and Little 

 Gulls, the Manx Shearwater, Little Tern, Purple, Night, 

 Great White, and Common Herons, the Little Bittern, 

 Curlew, Oyster-catcher, Spur-wingcd Plover, Stone-Curlew, 

 Moorhen, Land-Rail, Riugcd Plover, Blaek-vvinged Stilt, 

 Snipe, Redshank, Ruff, Dunlin, Grey Plover, Partridge (as 

 I'c'lruo rufus), Francolin, Pin-tailed Sand-Grouse (as Tctrau 

 ulchata), Quail, and the Roek-Pigeou, the Ringed, Tuitle- 

 and Collared Turtle-Doves *. 



Amongst the smaller birds Sibthorp obtained or noted are the 

 Crested aud Calandra Larks; the Water-Pipit, Song-Thrush, 

 Blackbird, Corn- and Ortolan Buntings, House- and Roek- 

 Sparrows, Fringilla linaria (probably not the Mealy Redpoll 



* [For an account of Sibthorp's unpublibhecl Tauua Cuu'ca,' see 

 Sclater, 'Ibis,' 1901, p. 222.— Edd.] 



