On some of the Birds of Cyprus. 571 



whether they were treeless or studded with oak. This bird 

 is, of course, almost invariably met with on the ground, but 

 I have seen it perch in trees. 



We found fresh eggs on April 25th at 7000 ft., young 

 in down, with both old birds in attendance, at about the 

 same altitude on June 1st, and young fully grown and in 

 small coveys at 4000 ft. on June 15th. 



XL. — Field-notes on some of the Birds of Cyprus. 

 By Dorothy M. A. Bate. 

 During my stay in Cyprus, from May 1901 until November 

 1002, I was unfortunately unable to devote much time to 

 observing or collecting the birds of the island. Consequently 

 I can contribute very little to the information that we 

 already possess from Dr. Guillemard's two interesting papers 

 which appeared in ( The Ibis ' (1888, p. 94, and 1889, p. 206), 

 and Lord Lilford's " List of the Birds of Cyprus " (Ibis, 

 1889, p. 305). Besides these there is the list given by 

 Drs. Unger and Kotschy in 'Die Insel Cypern' (Wien, 

 1865), aud a paper on the ornithology of Cyprus by 

 Herr Aug. Muller (J. f. O. 1878, p. 390). 



On arriving at Larnaka, which is the chief port, the first 

 glimpse of Cyprus, from an ornithologist's point of view, is 

 distinctly discouraging, inasmuch as a large portion of the 

 island consists of flat, or low hilly, country, parched up and 

 almost destitute of vegetation for the greater part of the 

 year. In early days the island was celebrated for its forests 

 " which not only clothed the whole of its mountain-ranges, 

 but covered the entire central plain with a dense mass, so 

 that it was with difficulty that the land could be cleared for 

 cultivation" *. At the present day this great central plain, 

 or " Mcsorsea," stretching right across the island, which is 

 about sixty miles broad from Morphou in the west to 

 Pamagusta in the east, is practically hare of vegetation after 

 the harvest is over. The only exception is an occasional spot 



* Encycl. Brit. vi. p. 717. 



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