104 Dr. F. H. H. Guillemard — Ornithological 



of yet another city can be made out on the coast about equi- 

 distant from these two^ and the cliff-face is in many places 

 dotted with rock-cut tombs and old quarry-workings. 



These sites of ancient cities are often the best hunting- 

 grounds for the ornithologist, and here I shot the only Blue 

 Rock Thrush that I obtained in Cyprus. When I first saw 

 it, it was sitting on the top of a small tree. I mistook it for 

 a Starling, and, although familiar with the bird, it was not 

 until it flew down on a low stone that I recognized it. 

 Here, too, on March 10th, I saw the first Hoopoe, a bird 

 which seemed to me to be far less common on the island 

 than in Greece. I was assured by two or three peo})le, how- 

 ever, that it was not nearly so abundant as usual. 



Although during my stay at the lighthouse I was on the 

 alert at various times in the night for the passage of migrants, 

 I never either saw or heard any, except on one occasion, 

 when for about half an hour a flight passed over us at do 

 great height. I could not, however, succeed in distinguishing 

 with certainty the note of any one species, although it is 

 probable that some of them were Wheatears; for nest morn- 

 ing (March 14th) these birds, of which up till then not a 

 single specimen had appeared, were quite common, and I 

 could have shot thirty or forty of them had I wished to 

 do so. 



The Akrotiri promontory is nearly separated from the 

 mainland by a salt lake about three or four miles long, which 

 in bygone days must have communicated with the sea. To 

 the south it has no well-defined limit, and loses itself imper- 

 ceptibly in a vast expanse of dead level white sand, the glare 

 from which is blinding. On this side I found few birds save 

 a stray Redshank and the two Ringed Plovers {/3igialitis hia- 

 ticula and ^. minor) . My only rarity was yE. geojfroyi. A 

 curious incident occurred one day as I was walking along 

 this barren shore, the surface of which was so smooth and 

 fiat that a marble would have been noticeable at a distance 

 of fifty yards. A Snipe got up almost at my feet. That it 

 should be found at all in such a place was curious enough, 

 but that it should have escaped observation was almost in- 

 credible. 



