find its Birds in 1888. 211 



was quite full;, and swimming in the middle, far out of gunshot, 

 a distance that they took good care to keep, Avere huge flocks 

 of ducks of various species. In my walk round the lake, I 

 noticed Siieldrake, Mallard, Wigeon, Shoveller, Pintail, and 

 Teal, and shot Sterna Jluviatilis and Emberiza schmniclus. 

 Birds were very much more numerous here than at any other 

 part I had till then visited. On the bare low hills surrounding 

 the water were two or three large flocks of Starlings and 

 Green Plovers, but both were quite unapproachable. While 

 fighting my way through some tall reeds from which I hoped 

 to put up some Duck, I several times came upon a small brown 

 bird, but so momentary was my vision of it, and so close was 

 it, that 1 found it impossible to shoot it. By good luck, how- 

 ever, I managed one day to drive one out of the reeds, and, on 

 securing it, found it to be Cyanecula ivolfi. These birds were 

 always to be found at this spot, but it was next to impossible 

 to shoot them. 



On the 13th of February I saw the first Swallow, eleven 

 days earlier than the date I noted of its arrival in 1887. A 

 few House Martins stay throughout the winter, as I think I 

 have already stated in my former article. A little later I 

 made an excursion to Agia Napa Monastery, an interesting 

 specimen of Lusignan domestic architecture, doubtless 

 a species of manor-house originally. Cape Greco, barren 

 and uninviting enough, lay a mile or two to the east, and here 

 on the rocky ground I succeeded in obtaining Saticolafinschi, 

 a bird I had once had brought to me on my first visit in a 

 horribly mangled condition. I have not seen the species 

 more than half a dozen times in the island, and it must be 

 rare. Though much like S. morio, the entire white back 

 renders it fairly easy of recognition at a distance. On the 

 way back to Famagusta I shot two Fieldfares out of a small 

 flock feeding in a wheat-field, birds that seemed rather out 

 of place under such burning skies ; for just then we happened 

 to be experiencing weather as hot as an English August. 



One of the most unfortunate accidents that can possibly 

 occur to a naturalist here fell to my lot. Riding back, gun 

 in hand, from the lake one day, a sudden movement of my 



p 2 



