38 Sydney Porter—Some Corsican Birds


cultivated parts by the seashore, and every now and then flies on

to the topmost branch of a bush and surveys the world, swelling his

white throat and jerking his tail meanwhile, but as soon as one

approaches dives into the bushes again. The coloration of this

little bird makes him one of the most noticeable of the smaller Corsican

birds in the winter time, though in the summer time he would be

outrivailed by the gorgeous Rollers and Bee-eaters.


The Dartford Warbler I only saw once, and that was near Calvi.

It was behaving in the same way as the Sardinian Warbler. Blackcaps

are very common, and one sees them everywhere, especially in the palm-

trees, searching for insects at the base of the huge leaves.


Numerous yellowish green warblers were seen in the trees and

bushes near the towns. These may have been Yellow-browed

Warblers. Great Tits and Blue Tits were comparatively common in

the orchards, as was the familiar Robin, which looked quite out of

place perched on the cactus hedges.


The Stonechat was very noticeable everywhere one went. One was

sure to see him either perched on some dead plant or on the telegraph

wires uttering his strange notes.


Wagtails were numerous, especially the yellow ones. I think these

must have been Grey-headed Wagtails. These were one of the few

birds one saw in the streets of the towns ; Pied Wagtails were also

seen, but what species they were I do not know, for ornithologists have

divided the Pied Wagtails into so many different races that I hesitate

to identify them. A bird that I was very glad to see was the Kite.

One evening we counted more than a dozen sailing gracefully over the

little mountain town of Corte ; they remained for hours sailing on

outstretched pinions ; their long forked tails seemed to be on a pivot,

for while the bird seemed to be perfectly still hovering in the air, the

tail was moving from side to side all the time and sometimes seemed to

be almost at right angles to the body. I suppose we should see these

graceful birds in Britain and many others as well if it were not for the

wretch with the gun. Buzzards were not very common. I only saw

two and they were flying very low down over the fields, evidently

looking for food. Kestrels were very much in evidence, and were

much tamer than those in England. Evidently they are not persecuted



