Ornitholoyy of Cyprus. 13 



This is quite a mistake, though it is not difficult to trace 

 how the error arose. Perhaps the most common reference 

 by writers about Cyprus from the 16th ceutury onwards is 

 to the " Vine-birds " and their delectable qualities on the 

 table, and they are described in many different ways. Locke 

 (1553) says " they are much like unto a Wagtaile in fethers 

 and making." Cotovicus (1598) writes "they are not 

 unlike the Ortolans of Italy." Mariti (1760-7), who was 

 not a naturalist but a very careful observer, and. probably 

 recognised that the birds caught were not always identical, 

 speaks of " the beccafico and the Ortolan .... sold indis- 

 criminately." Sibthorp, who was not in the Island at the 

 time of their capture, but wrote from hearsay and no 

 doubt with knowledge of the trade in real Ortolans in the 

 south of Europe, declares that u immense nights of 

 Ortolans appear about the time of the vintage ; these are 

 taken in great quantities, preserved in vinegar and exported 

 as an object of commerce." The bird was included in 

 Sibthorp's list and duly appeared in those of Ungei- and 

 Kotschy and of Miiller. Lord Lilford was assured that the 

 Garden Warbler was the species taken but could find out 

 nothing about the matter during his stay, whilst neither 

 he nor his collectors ever met with the Ortolan. Lord 

 Lilford was, rightly, disposed to think that the Blackcap was 

 "the principal victim/' 



Glaszner seems to have been the first to clear up this con- 

 fusion, and in writing to Madarasz he corrects an account 

 contained in a German work on Birds (Naturgeschichte der 

 deutschen Vogel, C. G. Friderlich) concerning the alleged 

 traffic in Ortolans in Cyprus, by pointing out that the Black- 

 cap is the chief species taken. 



The only authentic record of the Ortolan in Cyprus of 

 which I am aware is that of a single specimen captured 

 by Glaszner at Larnaca on April 13th, 1909, and sent to 

 Madarasz. [Vide also Sylvia atricapilla, Ibis, 1909, p. 596.] 



517. Emberiza cesia Cretzschm. 



Cretzschmar's Bunting is a very common summer visitor, 

 arriving in March and leaving towards the beginning of 



