Tour in Cyprus in 1887. 117 



Kormakiti just bpyond are two of the best places for Wood- 

 cocks in the island. 



The heat by day had by this time become very great^ an 

 unpleasant reminder that my time on the island was drawing 

 to a close, and that I had still a considerable amount of 

 ground to be worked before my departure. I was desirous 

 of seeing something of the southern slopes of the range 

 before I quitted the district, and accordingly started on the 

 19th May for a hamlet known as Larnaka tou Lapethou. 

 This place is supposed, though I do not know exactly why, 

 to have been the burial-place of the city of Lapethus in 

 ancient days. It seems to the last degree improbable that they 

 should have taken the trouble to carry their dead over rough 

 mountain-paths to a place so far distant ; for Larnaka, though 

 not far off as the crow flies, is, owing to the impassable 

 nature of the mountains, quite three hours by road from the 

 ruins of Lapethus. From whatever reason, however, there are 

 remains of many tombs, and, in particular, a bilingual inscrip- 

 tion in Phoenician and Greek, described by Cesnola, which I 

 was anxious to photograph. I stayed a day only at this 

 place — long enough for me to take my views and copies and 

 to remark upon the paucity of bird-life. It is singular that 

 there should be so few birds of prey in these mountainous 

 districts. My servant told me that he had put up a covey of 

 Red-legs, the young birds " grandes corame une Caille,'' close 

 to our camp, and there were other evidences of the earliness 

 of the season in the parched appearance ot the surrounding 

 country. 



I descended into the plains and reached the village of 

 Morphou, a place of some little size, on the evening of May 

 20th. The ride across the endless stretch of level ground 

 was uninteresting to a degree. The harvest, which was 

 fairly good in this district, was in most places carried. The 

 ubiquitous Sparrow, a stray Grey Crow or two, and innumer- 

 able Swifts were the only birds I noticed, with the exception 

 of a pair of Black Vultures ( Vultur monachus), an old bird and 

 a full-grown young one. The latter I was fortunate enough 

 to shoot with a charge of No. 6. shot, after a long stalk and 



