218 Cyprus and its Birds in 1888. 



■\vris considered a very strange bird^ and no one had ever seen 

 or licard of one before. 



Our dejiaiture was delayed by very heavy rains ; the 

 rivers tinging the sea for miles along the coast warned us 

 that mountain-travel was out of the qnestion. On the 2nd 

 May we started. I had been led to take the route settled 

 upon, as it was said to pass througli some fine forest^ and I 

 thonght that there might be a chance of seeing the Wood- 

 pecker or Nuthatch^ did such birds exist ujron the island. 

 It was the longest and worst day 1 ever experienced in 

 Cyprus, and it was not till the end of 10^ hours' incessant 

 travel and about half that time of equally incessant rain that 

 we got to our destination, a miserable little hamlet on the 

 northern slopes of the mountains. The scenery was wilder and 

 on a grander scale than that of any other part of the island, 

 but we did not come across the birds we were in search of, 

 and only saw two persons during the whole day. On the 

 4th May we reached Nikosia safely. 



One of the objects of my second visit to Cyprus was to 

 hunt for traces of primitive Man. I had already examined 

 several caves without success, but hearing that these were more 

 numerous in the northern range, I left the capital and worked 

 slowly eastward from St. Ilarion. The " castled crags " of 

 this wonderful place afforded shelter to two pairs of Pere- 

 grines, and far above our beads floated two Eagles of a species 

 tbat distance rendered it quite impossible to discover. Mr. 

 Templer, the district judge, who has built liis house in a 

 magnificent situation at no great distance from the castle, 

 told me that for two or three years past he had offered the 

 shepherds and others £2 apiece for the young birds of this 

 species, but that no one had succeeded in getting them. 



My searcli after caves was quite as futile. It is almost 

 impossible to make a Cypriote nndeistand what is wanted. 

 To him everything is a oiryXaLov, and he does not differentiate 

 between a rock-hewn tomb and a hole in the limestone rock 

 as large as a good-sized cupboard. I have on several oc- 

 casions ridden some miles only to find a disappointment of 

 this nature in store for me, and I left Cyprus without having 



