122 Ovrasiumtl Sote.<. 



XIV. — Occasional Notes. 

 VIII. Letter from Cyprus. 

 The following letter to Haagner will interest the Members 

 of the Union : — 



" I promised to send you a letter for the Journal giving a 

 little account of my new home and its Birds, and as I have 

 ]iow visited all the districts in the island I am taking the 

 tirst opportunity of letting you have a few remarks. 



"First of all, Cyprus lies in between 34° 33' and 35°41'north 

 latitude and 32° 20' and 34° 35' east longitude. Its greatest 

 length is 140 and its greatest breadth 60 miles. It is the 

 third largest island in the Mediterranean, and its nearest point 

 to Africa is about 250 miles from Port Said in Egypt. Its 

 area is 3584 square miles. Geographically it may be looked 

 at as a broad island, half mountain and half plain, the 

 mountains consisting of a northern and southern range 

 running right across the island from east to west, parallel 

 with each other and forming the boundaries of a large 

 central plain some 70 miles long by 15 to 20 broad. To tho 

 north of the northern range lies a narrow strip of land, 

 perhaps 4 miles deep, running to the sea, whilst to the south 

 of the southern range the land falls more slowly away 

 through long undulating foothills to the southern littoral. 



" The northern mountains rise only to 3150 feet, but the 

 southern chain — on which I spent nearly three mouths — is 

 magnificent country, its topmost peak 6400 feet above sea- 

 level. This southern range is well wooded with coniferous 

 and other trees, the Pinus pinaster, Pinus laricio, Querciis 

 aliiifolia, and Arhutus amlracline being most consi)icuous. 



" The island is on the whole very fertile and rather closely 

 cultivated, although in the main in rather rude fashion. 

 About 1700 sq. miles are under direct cultivation and 

 about 700 sq. miles are forest ; about 700 sq. miles are 

 rocky land not capable of cultivation, whilst the remainder is 

 probably capable of being dealt with remuneratively under 

 some form of agriculture. 



"There are a good many streams, nearly all of which, how- 



