126 



Temminck, Degland, nor Schlegel should cite Spain as a locality for our bird, as, though now 

 extinct in that country, it was formerly common in certain favourable localities, especially the 

 neighbourhood of the Lake of Albufera, near Valencia : vide ' Catalogo de las Aves de la Albu- 

 fera,' by Vidal, who, referring to the work published by Escolano, on the fauna of the Province 

 of Valencia, in 1722, says that the Francolin, — ' Muy abundante en la Dehesa en tiempo de 

 aquel escritor, no se encuentra ya en semejante localidad.' I saw specimens from the above- 

 mentioned 'Dehesa' (a sandy strip of land between the lake of Albufera and the sea) in the 

 Museum at Valencia in 1856, which had been killed many years previously; but during a long 

 day spent wandering about the Albufera, gun in hand, and after inquiries amongst the fishermen 

 and cazadores of the place, I could only discover that, to use a Spanish proverb, the Francolins 

 were ' idos y muertos y no tienen amigos.' Olina, to whom I have before referred, mentions the 

 abundance of Francolins in Spain in his time, and tells us that they particularly affected plains 

 overgrown with ' ramerino e spigo.' I have been assured that Francolins were common many 

 years ago near Tangier." 



Lord Lilford further remarks that Olina mentioned it as being especially abundant in the 

 neighbourhood of Tunis ; and a gentleman he met at Marseilles assured him that he had once, 

 and only once, met with and shot a pair near Philippeville, in Algeria; and I am indebted to him 

 for the following notes : — " Since writing my paper on the extinction of this species in Europe 

 (Ibis, 1862, p. 352), and my controversy with Dr. Bree as to whether Cyprus could legitimately 

 be termed Europe, I have visited that island with the especial object of seeing the Francolin in 

 his native haunts, and as far as possible becoming personally acquainted with his habits and 

 economy. Before going into details on the subject I may as well say that the main facts in my 

 paper above mentioned are perfectly correct, with the exception of the entire extinction of the 

 bird in Sicily, as proved by Mr. Howard Saunders, and admitted by me in my account of the 

 cruise of the 'Zara' in 'The Ibis;' however, I think, at all events, that for all practical purposes 

 we may now consider the species extinct in Europe in the usual acceptation of the term, though 

 1 am glad to say it is not only to be found, but is abundant, in localities which come well within 

 the limits indicated upon your wrappers. In the island of Cyprus the bird is by no means 

 scarce, though at the time of our visit (April and May) they were paired and nesting, and com- 

 paratively difficult to find. I was (I do not know why) always under the impression that the 

 Francolin almost always affects the vicinity of water; but I was speedily undeceived on this 

 subject. There are many localities in Cyprus in which the bird was formerly common, where it 

 is now no longer to be found, without any apparent cause for its disappearance ; this applies 

 particularly to the immediate outskirts of the town of Larnaka, where I am assured that twenty 

 years ago several brace might be shot in two or three hours, but where at present not a Francolin 

 is to be found. 



" Owing to the scarcity of good harbours in Cyprus, and the consequent danger of leaving 

 my vessel for any length of time, I was unable to explore the island so thoroughly as I wished ; 

 and I know well that there are many localities in which the Francolin is common, and which I 

 could not visit on that account. We first met with the bird amongst the sandhills which skirt 

 the sea-shore a few miles to the north of the town of Famagousta and the ruins of Salamis; and 

 thence to the eastward, in the promontory known as the Horn of Cyprus, we found the species 



