Ch. I.] FLOCKS OF OEANES. 3 



of vegetation which we were soon to witness in the tropics, 

 of which, however, we were destined to see but little until 

 we had reached its perfection in the rich garden of Ceylon. 

 The rocky islands of Corsica and Sardinia, the picturesque 

 Maritimo, and the white fortifications of Malta, present 

 nowhere a tree or a bush to relieve their barrenness, and 

 the only thing remotely interesting to a zoologist is the sem- 

 blance of a gigantic bear which may be seen walking down 

 a shelving crag in the straits of Bonifacio, and appropriately 

 called the Bear Eock. At Malta, some hours of moonlight 

 and dawn were all that were allowed us, which thus prevented 

 landing. 



Steaming down the placid waters of the Mediterranean at 

 this time of year (the beginning of March) is perhaps the 

 perfection of pleasant travelling. The air is more soft and 

 balmy than it can be at any season in our own climate, and 

 without being oppressively warm, aU thought of- cold is 

 abandoned, and a sensation of agreeable exhilaration mingles 

 with one of ideal comfort. Once or twice a flying fish broke 

 the quiet surface of the water, but the Mediterranean species 

 did not make their appearance in any numbers. South of 

 Candia my attention was arrested by four successive flocks 

 of cranes flying northward, whose screams could be heard 

 distinctly as they passed close over the ship — a circumstance 

 which was stated to be unusual, the captain of the ship 

 never having observed it before in his frequent passages up 

 and down the Mediterranean. There were about 50 birds 

 in each flock. The first assumed a long irregular hne, 

 but the other three were more or less wedge-shaped, particu- 

 larly one, in which the figure was remarkably symmetrical. 

 Buffon's idea of the cause of this peculiar arrangement, viz. 

 that the strongest naturally keeps first, while the rest are 



B 2 



