334 Lord Lilford— Li5^ of 



parts of the island in spite of constant persecution by Greek 

 natives at all times of the year. I was informed at Larnaca, 

 in 1875, that the Turkish Governor of Cyprus had then 

 recently issued a decree to prevent the practice of taking the 

 eggs of this bird and the Francolin by the native Christians 

 for their Easter fooleries, and I only trust that our 

 authorities have kept up at least this edict of their 

 predecessors. We found this species as common in the 

 wheat-fields of the plains as amongst the scrub of the hill- 

 sides. Guillemard records having heard of young Partridges 

 as large as Quails in the third week of May 1887, and almost 

 all the eggs found by me about the end of April 1875 were 

 more or less hard-set. The nests of this species that we 

 found were simply slight " scratchings/^ in which a few dry 

 leaves and grass-stems had been pulled together under an 

 evergreen bush ; the greatest number of eggs found by my 

 party in one nest was thirteen. With one or two exceptions 

 all the Partridges that we met with in Cyprus were of the 

 white-throated race of C. chukar, whilst, on the other hand, 

 the few that I saw in Crete were more or less rufous- 

 throated. *. 



140. Francolin. Francolinus vulgaris. 



My principal object in visiting Cyprus was to make the 

 personal acquaintance of this beautiful game bird, and I 

 am glad to say that this object was fully attained. I have 

 been assured by several friends, some of whom had spent 

 several years in the island, that this species had been so 

 ruthlessly persecuted that I should probably have great 

 difficulty in meeting with it ; but on first setting foot ashore 

 in Cyprus, on the eastern side of the Bay of Episkopi, my 

 hopes were much revived by the report of one of my crew, 

 who had gone ashore before us in search of water, and 

 reported having flushed two " Black ^^ Partridges on the 

 rising ground a little to the north of Cape Zephgari. I did 

 not, however, meet with or hear a Francolin in this district 

 on that occasion. The shortness of my stay on the coasts of 

 Cyprus does not authorize me to speak as to tlic relative 



