102 Dr. F. H. H. Guillemard — Ornithological 



never succeeded in obtaining their eggs^ thoiigh I believe 

 that I might have done so on the Akrotiri peninsula had I 

 remained thei'e till the breeding-season. Lord Lilford, how- 

 ever, tells me that he was never able to discover the nest, 

 although the birds were evidently breeding in considerable 

 numbers in the neighbourhood of Salamis. 



Sylvia melanothorax appears to frequent much the same 

 ground as the Spectacled Warbler. With regard to its 

 habits, I can add little to the description of Canon Tristram. 

 In the male the eye-ring is red ; the iris ruddy brown or, 

 sometimes, yellowish ; and the feet and tarsus vary from 

 dark brownish yellow to ruddy brown. The female has a 

 much less bright eye-ring, the iris is less ruddy, and the feet 

 are paler. The bill in both is dark brown, the proximal end of 

 the lower mandible being of a pale fleshy-yellow. Length in 

 the flesh :— S , 13-4-13-8 centimetres ; ? , 13-4-L3-5. 



Haunting the same ground as the above two species, but 

 so uncommon that I only secured two specimens, was Stjlvia 

 melanocephala. I never saw it again in any other part of 

 the island, although I believe Lord Lilford found it tolerably 

 abundant near the Karpas. 



The perpendicular cliffs forming the southern boundary of 

 the peninsula were the home of many Gyps fnlvns, Rock- 

 Pigeons, and Kestrels {Tinmmcuhts cenchris), and on a slab of 

 rock immediately below the lighthouse, inaccessible except by 

 boat, a seal might often be seen "hauled up." Here, too, I 

 shot the beautiful Falco eleonorce, and watched through my 

 telescope the movements of a pair of Cormorants. When 

 walking along the eastern coast I twice disturbed Alcedo 

 ispida from its perch on a small rock at the head of a 

 miniature bay. That Halcyon smyrnerms exists in Cyprus I 

 have no doubt whatever, for the bird was well described to 

 me by two different persons; and Lord Lilford tells me that 

 he also had credible evidence as to its occurrence. Rather 

 more curious is the fact that Ceryle rudis is also found on 

 the island. Its appearance and habits were described to me 

 in such a manner by Mr. Cade, the present Commissioner of 

 the Kyrcnia district, who had been for some time a resident 



