1 5 o MEDITERRANEAN NOTES 



by a doctor in some village not far from Girgenti ; no 

 one knows when it was killed. He assures me that the 

 Greek partridge (Caccabls gr^eca) is not very common in 

 this neighbourhood, where the red-leg (Caccabls rufa] is 

 the common species, while the common partridge (Terdix 

 cinerea) * is not rare. My steward has found the two 

 latter in some numbers in the market here, as well as the 

 Barbary partridge (Caccabis -petrosa] from Sardinia. Many 

 gulls frequent the harbour, apparently all herring gulls 

 (Larus argentatus] or their Mediterranean representative,! 

 and the brown-headed gull (Larus ridibundus}" 



SPEZIA 



"January ^\st February yd. A great many gulls, 

 chiefly the brown-headed gull, frequent the bay during 

 the daytime ; they collect together about sunset, and 

 fly out seawards, probably to some favourite rock, on 

 which they pass the night. 



" February yd. We sailed from Spezia, and got 

 into Leghorn about daylight." 



* The group Caccabis, to which our Red-leg Partridge belongs, differs 

 from Perdix (the Grey Partridge, of which our common partridge may 

 be regarded as the type) in the presence of knobs (rudimentary spurs) 

 on the legs of the males ; and, generally, these partridges tend towards 

 the true gallinaceous birds. 



t The Mediterranean Herring Gull, constantly referred to here as 

 Larus leucophceus, is better known as L. cachinnans. It differs from 

 our Herring Gull by having yellow, instead of flesh-coloured legs and 

 feet, an orange-red ring round the eye, and a darker mantle. 



