470 APPENDIX. 



short flights at its prey : this bird even alighted on our shoulders, and 

 picked flies oft' our clothes. 



" Two or three hoopoes ( Upupa Epops) came on board, rested for 

 a short time, and proceeded on their flight ; a turtle dove {Cohimha 

 Turtur) did the same. 



"A flock consisting of twelve ibises {Ihls falc'mellus, Temm.) seen 

 first at a distance coming from the south-west, flew close past the 

 vessel, and continued directly in the same course, or towards the north- 

 east, until lost to view. 



"April 25. — Wind N.E., 58 miles from Calabria, the nearest land : 

 135 miles from Mount Etna at sunset, when it was visible. A scops- 

 eared owl {Strix Scops) was knocked down and captured just as he 

 had clutched a lesser whitethroat {Sylvia Curruca), of which species 



two or three individuals came on board. A shrike (La/mis ), 



which from the height it generally kept at I could not see well enough 

 to distinguish its species, seized a Sylvia Trochilus, all of which it 

 ate except the bill : of the latter species, one taken by ourselves met 

 with better treatment, and, perching quietly on the finger, was so 

 carried about to feed on flies, which it seized when witliin reach, 

 never leaving the hand if the fly could possibly be captured from it. 

 A female golden oriole {Oriolus Galbida), a redstart {Thcenicura 



ruticilla), and a lark {Alauda ), of what species I could not be 



certain, came on board — the redstart was caught. Several of the 

 Hinmdo rusiica about the ship. A wryneck {Yunx torcjuilla) was 

 captured, and on being taken within reach of flies, at once picked them 

 up.* When turning about its neck in the manner pecidiar to the 

 species, this bird was compared by some of the oflScers to a particular 

 species of snake found in Greece, which, like it, has a dark band on 

 the head and neck. , 



" Two or three of the Upupa Epops and a Columha Turtur flew 

 on board, but did not remain long. ' Large and small hawks ' were 

 reported to me as seen about the ship ; but the goatsucker and 

 cuckoo might, from their general appearance and mode of flight, be not 

 improbably looked upon as ' small hawks.' 



" Jj)ril 26.' — Wind N.E., 86 miles from Zante, the nearest land : 



" * The birds wliicli, in addition to the wryneck, fed freely on Hies, when held in 

 the hand within )-each of them immediately after capture, were Syhia Trochilus, 

 Motacilla neglecta, Ilirimdo rustica, and Hlrundo urbica. 



