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OBSERVATIONS ON THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS 

 IN THE MEDITERRANEAN. 



BY 

 COMMANDER H. LYNES, R.X., M.B.O.U. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



While serving inH.M.S. " Venus " on the Mediterranean 

 Station from August, 1905, to February, 1908, I saw, 

 one way and another, a good deal of the migration of 

 birds, and in hopes that some of my observations may 

 bring out a few fresh points or strengthen existing views 

 on the subject, I have ventured to put together the 

 following notes. 



A man-of-war seldom stops long at any one port ; my 

 observations were consequently of a rather disconnected 

 nature. We were fortunate, however, in 1906, in having 

 three of the spring months at Crete, and five of the 

 autumn and winter months in Egypt. 



Malta, excellent for migration observation, but almost 

 an ornithological desert in summer and winter, being the 

 headquarters of the Mediterranean Fleet, was of course 

 a frequent port of call during the commission ; however, 

 as the "Venus" never happened to stop there for more 

 than a few weeks during the spring and autumn, I was 

 unable to make many notes on the passage of birds 

 through that island. 



At Crete, in the spring (February, March and April, 

 1906), our opportunities for studying migration were not 

 so favourable as could have been wished ; the ship was 

 at sea, patrolling the coast a great deal of the time, and 

 when at anchor she always lay some distance from the 

 shore. We left Crete, too, some time before the vernal 

 migration had ceased. 



In Egypt the conditions were much more favourable. 

 We were there from August 23rd, 1906, to January 

 20th, 1907 — spending most of our time at Port Said, 

 with four short visits to Alexandria, going out of 



