144 Mr. A. B. Brooke on the 



le, tedious from their incessant repetition. It is also 

 here that Otis tetrax, the only Bustard as yet discovered in 

 Sardinia, finds a congenial home, its unrelaxing watchfulness 

 and wildness rendering it a task of some difficulty to secure 

 specimens in such a stronghold. In winter the plain is the 

 favourite hunting-ground of many of the Raptores, — hares, 

 rabbits, Partridges, and the dead or sickly individuals of large 

 flocks of sheep and goats (which are fed there during that 

 season) affording them constant food. To the north and south 

 of the plain the mountains rise gradually, those on the north 

 forming the high chain of the Geimargentu, those on the 

 south the less elevated range of Monte Limas. The scenery 

 of the latter range is wild and picturesque to an extreme, pos- 

 sessing a character peculiar to itself. The lower slopes of the 

 mountains are covered with forests of ilex, and cork trees of 

 vast age and growth. These decrease in size as a higher ele- 

 vation is attained, becoming dwarfed and stunted into mere 

 pigmy shrubs, which frequently present the most eccentric 

 shapes, their irregular arms being covered with long pendent 

 moss. In some instances the summits of the mountains, which 

 reach 4000 feet, are overgrown with forest continuous with 

 that which clothes the valleys and slopes ; but more generally 

 they are bare, rounded in form, and covered with grass and 

 herbs, which possess a considerable aromatic fragrance. The 

 valley of Monte Marno intersects the Monte Limas range,, 

 dividing it into two very nearly equal parts. Immediately to 

 the north of this valley the mountains are broken up into 

 thousands of jagged pinnacles, varying in height from 100 to 

 500, or perhaps 1000 feet, which jut up bare and naked from 

 the rich forests surrounding their bases. These form the last 

 refuge of the Moufion in this range ; and I trust that for some 

 years to come the species may, amongst these in many places 

 impracticable fastnesses, defy extinction. In the lower forests 

 are found very diminutive races of the Wild Boar and Red 

 Deer, the same law which I shall have occasion to allude 

 to as affecting the avifauna of the island having apparently 

 laid its mark upon the larger mammalia with still clearer 

 impress. 



