164 MEDITERRANEAN NOTES 



(Crex porzana). Saw a few common wild ducks, a red- 

 shank or two, Alpine swift, some sedge warblers, of which 

 I shot one for identification, a great many larks (Alauda 

 calandm and A. cristata\ etc. Saw a fine kite on shore 

 of bay, several kestrels, some pipits (?) and a whitethroat, 

 I think the lesser whitethroat. Found a Vesp. schniberi 

 in the catacombs. In some lemon groves, near the Orecchio 

 di Dionisio, it seems that all the sparrows (P. salicicolus] 

 of the neighbourhood come in to roost ; they kept 

 streaming into this from all quarters for about an hour 

 in thousands, and made a deafening noise, which ceased 

 immediately for an instant or two upon the crack of a 

 whip, and then redoubled. A sparrow-hawk was soaring 

 over them. A peasant brought a curious longicorn beetle,* 

 found in hollow wood, and another beautiful young 



snake, which is, I fancy, Z. hippocrepis. E saw a 



hoopoe fly across our bows in the morning, and one was 

 brought off to us alive, but badly wounded, at night, 

 which M bought." 



"April nth. We were induced by a report of quail* 

 having arrived, and the Syracusan nobility having gone 

 in pursuit to the Isola Bianca, to go out to the Scala 

 Graeca to try our luck, but we only found two or three 

 paisani and had no sport. 



" On the way to the Scala we saw several common 



* Longicornes. A group of beetles characterised by the extreme 

 length of their antennae. 



