NOTES OF A NATURALIST IN THE 

 MEDITERRANEAN. 



Bv G. P.. HONV. 



I PROPOSE in this article to gi\'e a brief outliiu- ijf 

 bird life noticed w hile on a four-months" cruise round 

 the Mediterranean : particular attention bein,i; t;i\"en 

 to those birds which \isit Ent^land as sunnner 

 migrants. Little - far too little — is known of these 

 birds in their winter haunts, and as I Hnd that the 

 dates at which I saw some of them in \ariiius 

 places differ \er\' considerabh' from thnst,' };i\\n in 

 most books on the subject, thev ma\" be of interest. 



I first saw swallows at Alexandria on March 5th. 

 (J. E. Harting gives March _'5th as the date of its 

 re-appearance in Egxpt. " Our Summer Migrants " 

 page 179). At t^prus the\' were common on March 

 14th. The\' arrived at Platea (S. Greece) in large 

 numbers on April 1st, and when I finalh' left, a 

 fortnight later, they were still there, but I saw no 

 signs of nesting. One came on board on A]>ril -Ith. 

 when going up the .\driatic (42" 21' N.. \(>" .id' b:.. 

 wind W'.N.W.). ,\t Malta the\' seemed comm(.)n in 

 the middle of the island on .Vpril 27th. though 

 none appeared by \'ak-tta. One came on board on 

 May 1st i,j7 l.S' N., 10 55' E., wind N.W.i when 

 going to Gibraltar. At the latter place thev were 

 common on Mav ()th. 



Swifts were comnidU at C\prus on Marth 14th, 

 and at Gibraltar on Ma\- 5th. 



I saw a few House .Martins at W'niceon .\pril 4th. 

 One joined us when four miles from Malta, on April 

 19th. and there were quantities of tliem with tlie 

 swallows at Malta, on .\pril 27th. I did not aetualh 

 see one at Gibraltar, but 1 expect there nmst ha\e 

 been some at the beginning of Ma\'. 



There were some Sand ^h^rtins at Gibi-altar (jn 

 January 21st, this being the onK time 1 saw an\-. 



Hoopoes were common in Eg\pt at the lu^inning 

 of March, at Cyprus nn March 14th. and 1 saw one 

 at Platea on March 2-lrd. 



There was one pair of Kinged Pl()\ersat Platea for 

 abniit a week at the end nt March, then the\' seemed 

 to go. 



Turtle Do\es were numerous at .Mexandria (in 

 .March Jrd. and some of them seemed to be paired 

 off by that date. One came on board nn April 

 16th (.56^ 58' N.. 17' 50' E.. wintl \.). when going 

 from Platea to Malta. .\ pair boarded us on April 

 23rd, when about eight miles S.W. of Malta (wind 

 N.E. b}- E.) One joined us on Ma\- 1st (.57" IN' 

 N., 10° 55' E.) when going from Malta to Gibraltar 

 (wind X.W.). 



Blackcaps and Whitethroats seemed common at 

 Gibraltar on January 21st. At .Malta the j)lace was 

 crowded with these and Wood ^^'arbI(■I■s. nn .\pril 

 25th. Blackcaps were again at Gil)raltar cm Ma\ oth. 



Pied Flycatchers and the allied species Miiscicdpa 



cilhicoHis (the latter has a complete ring of white 

 round its neck) were common at Malta on Aprd 25th. 



A Grey-headed Yellow \\'agtail joined us on 

 .Vjiril 2.5rd. when about eight miles S.W. ot Malta, 

 but the main flocks arrived at Malta on April 25th. 

 as did also the Meadow Pipits iwind W.N.W.t .\ 

 Golden ()riolewas caught at Malta on .\pril 2.Sth. 

 I ,i;i\e the last facts on the authorit)' of the bird 

 catchers at Malta ; these men had cages full of the 

 birds mentioned and sold large numbers for a few- 

 pence each. 



I also saw Meadow Pipits at .Mexandria. on 

 Man h .Jrd. and on the same (la\- I saw numbers of 

 Spotted Fl\-catchers. 



Black Redstarts were couiukju at Gibraltar, on 

 January 21st. and at Platea. on March 2r)th. 



Of course the dates gi\'en above do not refer to the 

 dates of arrival (excejjt where so stated), but only to 

 those on which I hrst saw the birds at such and such 

 a place. 



Amongst other int(.-restin,L; liirds seen I may 

 mention a pair of buff-backed Herons, which joined 

 us when going from Platea to Malta, on \\n\\ Kjth, 

 TIk ir was a strong w ind from the North at the time : 

 till' liuils seemed \er\- tired and looked as though 

 the\- wished to perch, but e\ery time they got far 

 enough up to windward the\- iell back and had to 

 beat Uj) again. 



I never saw Blackbirtls anxwhere but at Gibral- 

 tar. Here thev had a different note of alarm from 

 the Itirds in England. 



It is rather remarkable that whereas when we 

 \isited Malta in .\\)r\\ it was full of birds, at the end 

 of l'"ehiiiar\ I do not think I sa\\ any birds except 

 Sparrows, which b\ -the-bye are slightl\- different 

 from English examples, being slighter and altogether 

 more " gentlemanh' '" looking. 



I'kicks of Ravens were more or less tame in 

 Cyprus, and when feeding on garbage would allow 

 one to approach them much nearer than would 

 r( loks in Englanci. 



The Hocks of Kites over Cairo are really wonder- 

 ful. One dav I counted sixty-hve birds on the wing 

 at once : a few may haxe been hooded crows (for at a 

 great height it is hard to distinguish between them) 

 but the majority were certainl}- Kites. M Platea I 

 watched with some interest a pair of Common 

 Buzzards. I found their nest on March 21st, when 

 it had four eggs : the\- were not hatched when we 

 left on .April 13th. 



Granada was crowded with Nightingales on March 

 10th. The people told me that they would all leave 

 in a month's time, but I think that this opinion 

 IS onl\- held because the birds stop singing. 



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