during a Voyage to Alexandria. 74^7 



were at their greatest height above the water at the end of 

 tlie segment : tlien, with slanting wings, they went down to 

 the surface and so started another flight ; when feeding they 

 suddenly put up their wings and dived straight in ; then they 

 came up and rested on the surface a moment before resuming 

 their flight. 



On the return journey we left Alexandria on May the lOth, 

 but saw no birds till the 31st. When in long. 20° 45' and 

 a hundred miles from the African coast, two Red-footed 

 Falcons came on board and roosted in the rigging. 



On the 23rd we put into Malta for an hour or so, but the 

 only birds in the market were a few Turtle-Doves and a cage- 

 ful of Short-toed Larks ; the coloration of the latter birds 

 varied enormously and no two seemed quite alike, especially 

 about the head. In the harbour were a few Larus cachinnans. 

 Off Gozo quite a number of Storm-Petrels followed the wake 

 of the ship and came with us all day — that is, they presumably 

 flew a hundred and twenty miles from their nesting-places. 

 In the evening, when about forty miles equidistant from 

 Pantellaria and the Sicilian coast, some House-Martins came 

 on board and roosted. Some more came on board the next 

 evening. The onl}^ other birds seen on the voyage to 

 Gibraltar were a few Larus cachinnans and small Shear- 

 waters. Just before we got opposite Gibraltar on the 27th, 

 a AYillow-Warbler came on board and, after remaining a few 

 minutes, flew to land east of Gibraltar, making an un- 

 necessarily long journey, as we thought. In the Straits 

 some PuflSns were still to be seen, and over the Rock, flying 

 in a wedge-formation to the westward, was a flock of about 

 a hundred and fifty Flamingoes, probably on their way to the 

 Guadalquivir. On the 28th, when oft' Lisbon, I saw some 

 immature Ganuets, and a few more in the Bay of Biscay. 

 Otherwise birds were few until we neared the French coast 

 ofl" Usliant and the Channel, when Kittiwakcs, Herring and 

 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, adult and immature, and im- 

 mature Gannets w'erc met with, and off the Scilly Islands 

 Puffins were seen ; off" Holy Isle, in addition to the Gulls were 

 Common Terns, Guillemots, Manx Shearwaters, and a Black 

 Tern. 



