108 Dr. F. H. H. Gm\\ema.rd— Ornithological 



" Song of the setting sun/' beginning when the muezzin 

 shouts his mournful cry from the minaret, and tlie connexion 

 of the two sounds and the brilliant sunsets that accompanied 

 them are among the most vivid of my recollections of the 

 little Turkish village. The Cypriotes have a quaint story 

 about the bird, under the idea^ which I could never personally 

 confirm, that the two notes, as in the case of the African 

 Telephomis bacbakiri, are uttered by different birds. They 

 say that one of these Owls once borrowed four loaves of a 

 friend and only returned three, declaring that to have been 

 the number lent. Their descendants have ever since kept 

 up the quarrel, and that is why, when the one says " rpi<i," 

 the other instantly retorts Avith '' r'a'pa." I regret that I 

 am unable to say whether the note is only uttered by the 

 female. 



The season was hardly yet sufficiently advanced for snakes, 

 but on returning to my house one evening I found that a 

 peasant had brought me a very fine specimen of Zamenis 

 viridiflavus , 4 feet 5 inches in length, brownish green, with a 

 bright yellow belly. This species is very common on the 

 island, and I afterwards obtained a good series of the dif- 

 ferent varieties. 



It was not until a day or two before my departure from 

 Episkopi that I found that there was a good marsh at the 

 north-west corner of the salt lakes I have already mentioned. 

 It was within tolerably easy reach, and I visited it twice. I 

 understood from the officers of the 49th Regt., then quartered 

 at Limassol, that it abounded in the winter with Ducks of 

 many kinds. I found a few Mallard and Teal, and Snipes 

 were ver}^ abundant. From a flock of eight or ten I shot a 

 Rufl'in immature or non-breeding plumage ; but I got nothing 

 of special interest, with the exception of Sylvia rueppelli, 

 which I found haunting the tamarisk-bushes in, or on the 

 edges of, the swamp. 



I left Episkopi March 29th. The village, as I afterwards 

 learnt, Avas supposed to be unhealthy, and although I had 

 not been actually laid up, I had never felt Avell during the 

 Avhole of my stay there. The neighbourhood of the salt lakes 



