Notes on the Ornithology of Sardinia. 14-3 



Entire length 5.00, culmen 050 ; wing, carpus to tip, 2'80 ; 

 tail 200, tarsus 085, hind toe 025. 



Hab. Accra. 



The description is taken from three specimens shot close to 

 Accra by Mr. T. E. Buckley and myself. In this part of the 

 country it is by no means uncommon. We always met with 

 it singly or in pairs on the sandy plain, which is much inter- 

 spersed with bushes ; it was never observed to mount in the 

 air, but flew rather in a Pipit-like manner for a short distance 

 when disturbed. A fourth specimen, in Mr. Sharpens collec- 

 tion, was killed at Accra in May. 



XIX. — Notes on the Ornithology of Sardinia. 

 By A. B. Brooke, P.Z.S. 

 Having paid four visits to the Island of Sardinia, during 

 which I devoted much attention to its ornithology, I am in 

 hopes the following remarks, based almost entirely upon per- 

 sonal observation, may prove of some interest. My visits, 

 which extended over the greater part of the months March. 

 April, May, June, November, and December, of the years 

 1869, 1871, and 1872, were exclusively confined to the south- 

 west corner of Sardinia, which contains an area of about one 

 sixth of the whole island, and is isolated from the remaining 

 portion by the large flat plain which runs in a north-westerly 

 direction from Cagliari to Oristano, a distance of nearly 

 seventy miles. This plain, which has an average breadth of 

 from seven to ten miles, remaining, as it does, in a great 

 degree uncultivated, owing to its excessive unhealthiness, forms 

 a marked feature in the physical geography of the island, with 

 which are connected, as can be easily imagined, many zoolo- 

 gical facts of considerable interest. In the uncultivated parts 

 it is covered with a dense undergrowth, four or five feet in 

 height, composed principally of cistus, myrtle, privet, heather, 

 and lentiscus. In this sea of cover are found the haunts of 

 very many of the smaller Warblers, the harsh grating call- 

 notes of Melizophilus sardus, Curruca melanocephala, and 

 Sylvia conspicillata becoming in early summer mornings, if 



