180 Commander 11. Lynes on a 



dropped apparently dead. On reaching tlie spot two Sparrow- 

 Hawks were found, a female flapping hard and trying to rise 

 ■with her claws fixed into the breast of the male, which was 

 lying on his back motionless and almost dead, obviously the 

 bird that had been shot. 



The female allowed herself to be taken by hand across the 

 shoulders, and was detached from the now dead male without 

 offering any resistance. AY hen I Avas satisfied by an inspec- 

 tion that she was uninjured, she was thrown into the air and 

 flew strongly away. It was apparently a case of the hen bird 

 endeavouring to rescue her mate; had it been merely one of 

 cannibalism, she would surely not have allowed herself to be 

 caught. 



Ardetta minuta (L.). 



At Port Said on 30th October a Little Bittern flew on 

 board the ship and was captured. The same day another 

 was met with in a mar:>hy place. The species did not seem 

 to winter there. 



In Sicily on 23rd May Little Bitterns were very plentiful 

 in the fringe of sedges round the edge of the Lago di Lentini. 

 They were continually flushed, and looked as if they had 

 not long arrived. They breed very late, making nests like 

 small jNIoorhen^s nests among the dead stuff at the bases of 

 the big "carizos" of the reed-forests. On 6th June two 

 nests contained two and three fresh eggs respectively. 



Hydrobates pelagica L. 



It seems remarkable that the Storm-Petrel was never 

 observed in the Mediterranean to the eastward of Malta. 

 Between Gibraltar and Malta, but not from Malta to the 

 eastward, in August, numbers of these birds would follow 

 the ship's wake, flying to and fro and dipping their beaks 

 into the water for food now and then. In the Hed Sea and 

 Gulf of Aden many Storm-Petrels appeared again. The 

 species was found nesting plentifully on Filfola Island, three 

 miles to the southward of Malta. On 6th May (1906) 

 one pair, and on 14th May (1907) many pairs, were sitting 

 together in crannies which presumably would shortly have 

 contained the egg. Eggs seem to be laid mostly about the 



