Tour in Cyprus in 1887. 115 



countless thousands of flies by day. As for the fleas^ Cyprus 

 is no exception to the rule that in the East, like the poor, 

 we have them always with us. 



Of what the world at large calls obnoxious creatures, 

 perhaps one of the best that I secured was a magnificent 

 specimen of VijJera xanthina. It was of considerable length, 

 and as thick as the middle of a man^s forearm. The rapid 

 tapering of the tail and the dirty colouring of the reptile 

 give it a repulsive appearance, which is not belied by its char- 

 acter. The Commissioner for the Famagusta district in- 

 formed me of the death of a man from snake -bite just at this 

 time, the event occurring at the village at which he happened 

 to be staying, and I have no doubt that it was to this species 

 that it was due. Such occurrences must be very rare. Tra- 

 vellers have given the island a bad name for snakes, and have 

 repeated over and over again the statement that the natives 

 wear high boots to protect them from the '^ deadly asps '' with 

 which it abounds. It is true that snakes are extraordinarily 

 abundant in Cyprus, and equally true that every peasant 

 wears high boots, but almost all these reptiles are harmless, 

 and the boots are worn as a protection against the thorns 

 with which the stunted bushes are so liberally provided. 

 Koufi is the name by which almost every snake except Za- 

 menis viridiflavus is known, and even the little Typhlops 

 vermicularis is inserted in the Cypriote black list. 



I heard the first Nightingale on the 4th May. On the 

 9th I left Akanthu and proceeded westward in the direction 

 of Kyrenia, skirting the shore closely. In many places 

 traces of rock-cut tombs and quarries and heaps of rubble 

 testified to the fact that in Greek or pre-Greek days this 

 coast must have been thickly pojkilated. Anthus arboreus 

 fed in pairs in the stubble, or rather what should have been 

 the stubble, for here the corn is generally pulled up by the 

 roots, and the latter cut off against a fixed sickle. Emberiza 

 melanocephala was very common, but it was singular to note 

 how much the males were in excess of the females. At one 

 place I heard the Francolin, a bird which is apparently be- 

 coming rarer from year to year in Cyprus, or at any rate 



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