160 MEDITERRANEAN NOTES 



bird. This porphyrio is very common, and is to be heard 

 all day and night, but very seldom seen. I only caught 

 a glimpse of one during the whole two days we spent 

 amongst the reeds and flags. The most abundant ducks 

 are now garganeys and white-eyed ; I also saw mallard, 

 gadwall, pintail, shoveller, pochard, red-crested whistling 

 and white-headed ducks. Marsh harriers * very common, 

 one or two grey harriers which look like C. pallldus^ no 

 other birds of prey, except a few kestrels and an odd 

 kite or two about the Pantani, magpies in swarms nesting 

 in the tamarisks with which the reed marsh is dotted, 

 ravens, hooded crows, and jackdaws. We saw great 

 numbers of warblers (particularly Cetti's), yellow and white 

 wagtails, coots in thousands, and great numbers of water- 

 hens, water-rails, spotted and Baillon's crakes. The marshes 

 are now drying and the snipes and other waders becoming 

 scarcer and scarcer. Saw several bitterns, common herons 

 and an occasional lesser egret; sandpipers (Tofanus stag- 

 natilis, T. hypoleucus, and T. glareola] common. Many 

 curlews (Numenius arquatus and N. tenuirostris). Heard 



% 



a Scops owl calling near Lentini. One of our boatmen 



* The harriers (Circus] are raptorial birds, which, though included 

 in the Falconida, may perhaps be regarded from their flight and certain 

 superficial characters (e.g. arrangement of head-feathers) as intermediate 

 between that family and the owls (Stngidas). As a rule they nest on 

 the ground. The Marsh Harrier (C. aruginosus) is practically extinct 

 with us as a breeding species, but the Hen Harrier (C. cyaneus) and 

 Montagu's Harrier (C. cineraceus) still nest in Britain. The Pallid 

 Harrier (C. pallidus) is an inhabitant of South-eastern Europe. 



