86 Sydney Porter—Some Corsican Birds


SOME CORSICAN BIRDS


By Sydney Porter


While staying for a short period this year in Corsica I was able to

observe a few of the birds there ; but unfortunately my notes are

brief and unscientific, for I had two handicaps—first, having no

binoculars with me and, secondly, having with me a friend who took

not the slightest interest in ornithological matters ; this latter was

perhaps the most trying.


How different is Corsica in the way of bird life from Southern

France and Italy, where most of the sweet songsters are transformed

into “ petits oiseaux ”, as they are called on the menu. Corsica is

teeming with bird life and one could spend a delightful holiday in the

spring time “ bird-watching ”. How so many of these so-called

ornithologists can go about as I have seen them do shooting down every

feathered creature whose species they are not sure of is beyond me.

If on a holiday I were to kill only one bird I should feel the “ pangs

of conscience ” for the rest of the time.


One of the first of the feathered tribe that meets the eye is the

Chaffinch—he’ seems everywhere, and is much commoner than the

sparrow ; the latter seems to keep on the outskirts of the towns, and

is much cleaner and lighter in colour than his English brethren, and

several I saw had black crescent-shaped marks on the flanks; indeed,

Passer domesticus looked so different that my friend was sure that

they were Whitethroats !


Another very common finch is the lovely Goldfinch. Around

Calvi there were literally hundreds. They frequented the waste ground

by the sea, and seemed to be feeding from the dead heads of the thistle

and teazel; but upon examination of these heads there was no trace

of seed in them. Unfortunately one sees many of these bright songsters

in tiny cages hanging outside the poorer class of houses in Corsica.

Greenfinches are also numerous, and at Ajaccio flocks were seen in

the orchards near the town. In these orchards were also seen the lovely

iittle Citril and Serin Finches. The types of these finches inhabiting

Corsica are supposed to differ from those on the mainland ; they are

cheerful, restless little birds, always moving from the ground to the



