mid its Birds in 1888. 209 



singular perforated monoliths similar to those at I'aplio. 

 These latter have been described by Professor Sayce as Phoe- 

 nician Bethels, or sacred stones ; but a careful examination of 

 the Anoyira trouvailles threw a very different light upon the 

 question, and there is but little doubt that they are merely 

 oil-presses, and most probably the work of Roman hands. 

 Behind Anoyira was the deep and rugged valley of the Kos- 

 tithes, which in some places might almost be dignified by the 

 name of gorge, and here the Wood Pigeon and Caccabis chukar 

 were to be found. I made but one entry in my note-book 

 during the whole of my staj' at this place, the occurrence of 

 the Blackcap on the 18th of January. 



Leaving Anoyira I returned to Episcopi, and thence 

 marched for the lighthouse at the extremity of the Akrotiri 

 peninsula, where, on my previous visit to Cyprus, I had re- 

 sided for some time at the period of the spring migration. 

 I reached it by a path I had not taken before, and found the 

 ground for a distance of a couple of miles or more strewn with 

 fragments of pottery — the period of which it was not easy to 

 fix. Among them I picked up a portion of a Phoenician 

 coloured glass alabastron, but the greater part was probably 

 Roman. At one time this peninsula must have held a very 

 large population, and there can, I think, be little doubt that 

 the Limassol Salt Lake formed originally an extensive and 

 commodious harbour. 



The two days I spent here were fruitless. There were 

 innumerable Song Thrushes in the low scrub, and the light- 

 house keeper told me that the greater number of them come 

 about the New Year and leave again in March. This, although 

 not quite what might be expected, coincides with my own 

 experience; for there was hardly one of these birds to be seen 

 when I first went to Episcopi, whereas I found them plentiful 

 on passing through that village on my return from Anoyira. 

 Fringilla serinus, a few Blackbirds, two Robins, the Herring 

 Gull, and the inevitable Gw/e/'i/a cristata — these were, literally, 

 the only birds I saw. My chief object in visiting the light- 

 house, however, was to instruct the people to get me the eggs 



SER. VI. VOL. I. p 



