audits Birds in 1888. 215 



the ornithologist^ however^ it was barren ground. Francolins 

 there were, indeed^ in tolerable plenty, but other birds were 

 few and far between. I obtained here our own Redstart 

 {Ruticilla phmibicura) , whieh was interesting from the fact 

 that during my first visit I had only seen and shot the eastern 

 R. mesoleuca. I saw a Scoter, almost certainly the common 

 CEdeniia nigra, not far from the shore, and found a tolerable 

 number of Sylvia melanothorax, the eggs of whic'j I was so 

 anxious to get; but up to the end of March they had not 

 begun to breed. 



The northern range of Cyprus is guarded by three great 

 medieval castles long since fallen into ruins. To one of 

 these, Kantara, I determined to move on the 27th INIarch. 

 I camped in a deserted and ruined monastery, which com- 

 manded magnificent views, and made myself comfortable 

 enough in a room in good repair, while my muleteers slept 

 sub jove round a good camp-fire, and my servant prepared his 

 bed in the church, his sleep undisturbed by the candles that 

 the muleteers had lighted at the altar. Next day I visited 

 the castle, the path leading under the southern face of three 

 or four gigantic blocks of limestone rock, in the most inacces- 

 sible parts of which Cypseius melba, Cotile rupestris, and 

 some Eagles, most probably Aquila bonellii, were breeding. 

 But the interest of the place lay in the castle and the mag- 

 nificent panorama obtainable from it, rather than in the birds, 

 and on my return to Famagusta two or three days later I 

 had made many more additions to my collection of photo- 

 graplis than to my box of skins. 



I found some new arrivals at the lake, notably theGarganey, 

 whieh, though fairly common, is only a temporary resident, 

 and apparently does not stay to breed. Plegadis falcinellus 

 was also numerous, feeding on the oozy flats round the lake. 

 I was bound for Larnaka, however, to meet Mr. F. G. Heath- 

 cote, of Trinity College, Cambridge, and did not stay longer 

 than was necessary to prepare the few skins I had in ray 

 collecting-box. At Larnaka I got a specimen of Ardea 

 jjurpurea and some other unimportant birds, but found the 

 lake much poorer in birds than that at Famagusta. While 



