Rough Notes from the Mediterranean. 307


and flat, 011 the European side it is higher. As we sailed along

what might have been a river (it was so narrow), and afterwards

in the Sea of Marmora, numerous flocks of those “wandering

Jews” among birds, the Levantine Shearwater {Puffinus yelko-

uamis') were seen flying hurriedly along just over the surface

of the water, but never seeming to alight, the wind driven souls

of the lost, according to the popular superstition, seeking rest

but finding none. I also noticed a “ skein ” of Wild Geese flying

overhead.


By the next morning we had reached Constantinople,

which to anyone unaccustomed to the East presents, from the

water, a most fascinating appearance, with its white marble

palaces, some built quite close to the water’s edge, and the domes

of the numerous mosques with their innumerable minarets

rising gracefully in all directions. Many Gulls were flying

about the harbour, I was not able to identify the species, but

Sclater and Taylor who were here in September and October,.

1875, writing in Ibis, 1876, p. 61, say: “ On the Bosphorus, at this

time of the year, the commonest Gulls are certainly the Yellow¬

legged Herring Gull ( Larus leucopJuezis') * and the Black-

hooded L. melanocephalus. These were, in fact, the only

species noticed, except a single pair of L. puscus (the Lesser

Black-backed Gull) at the entrance to the sea of Marmora.” So

that probably they were referable to one or other of these

species. The Common Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) was very

numerous and tame. I watched one bird for some time which

was swimming about and diving quite close to the side of the

ship. One curious habit that I noticed here was that they used the

houses near the water as resting places, sitting in rows along the

cornices, they were in breeding plumage, the white flanks being

very conspicuous. The Hooded Crow (Corvus comix ) was the

most noticeable wild land bird, it being very common, especially

in the neighbourhood of the beautifully kept cemetery at

Scutari on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus. I am sorry that I

did not notice any of the Collared Turtle-dove ( Turtur douraca)

which was first recorded from here in April, 1864, and is said to

swarm in the autumn. Domestic Pigeons were flying about in



L. cachinnans. Blit. Mus. Cat,, XXV. p. 266.



