214 Dr. F. H. H. GniWemixrd— Cyprus 



later the Wheatears arrived en bloc, just as tliey had 

 in the previous year. This month is certainly the best for 

 the Snipe-shooter, and it may be fairly said that there are few 

 better places than Cyprus for this sport, if the traveller does 

 not mind rather rough quarters and can depend upon his own 

 resources. 



A marsh after the sportsman's own heart is that near 

 Avgosida, whence on the 9th and 10th of INIareh I took twenty- 

 six couple with a friend. There were not, however, many 

 birds of interest to the naturalist, and I find that the Golden 

 Plover, Tachijbaptes fluviatUis, and Hoplopterus spiywsvs were 

 the only species that I added to my collection ; though, but for 

 ill-fortune, the Ruddy Sheldrake should have been of the 

 number — a not uncommon bird in Cyprus, which my hunter 

 Elias afterwards obtained in the Famagusta marsh. 



Returning to my old quarters at Famagusta, I remained 

 there until the 21st March, getting nothing of importance 

 except a fine Peregrine, and the first OocyJophus glandarius 

 on the 19th. My next move was into the Karpas, the name 

 given to the district M'hich comprises the whole of the great 

 north-east promontory of the island. The southern portion 

 of this, the Vallia, a large extent of waste ground more or less 

 covered with bush, I was anxious to investigate archseologi- 

 cally, while at the same time it seemed probable that it would 

 also be a good collecting-ground. I camped on the outskirts 

 of the Vallia on the second day, and found it a most beautiful 

 place. Junipers, myrtle, and dwarf oak formed a thickish 

 bush, averaging perhaps 10 or 12 feet in height, and myriads 

 of cyclamen. Allium, anemones, OrnWiogalum, and Ranun- 

 culus covered the ground with flowers. The lovely Cistus 

 was just bursting into blossom, and numberless brimstone 

 and orange-tip butterflies were already out. The day was 

 splendid. Full spring seemed to have come at a bound, almost 

 as it does in the far north, and I thought I had seen few 

 places more beautiful. 



The Vallia m as crowded with ruins and tombs and other 

 objects of archseological interest, which well repaid investi- 

 gation, but to which it is not necessary here to allude. To 



