108 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Venice we returned to Platea, arriving on the 12th. The place 

 had absolutely changed, for whereas when we left, less than ten 

 days before, all was bare, now everything was green. There were 

 quantities of Swallows, but otherwise I saw nothing interesting 

 during this visit, and the Buzzard's eggs were not yet hatched. 



We left for Malta on the 15th, and the next day — Easter 

 Sunday — was the roughest we had during the whole cruise, 

 with a strong north wind. At 11 a.m. a pair of Purple Herons 

 joined the ship, they seemed very tired and looked as if they 

 wanted to perch, but whenever after much effort they had got 

 into position to do so, they fell right back to leeward, and had 

 to beat up again. They remained with us about two hours, and 

 as they left while I was below, I cannot say in what direction 

 they went. A Wheatear was seen at the same time (position 

 37° 8' N, 18° 3' E), and during the afternoon a Turtle-Dove left 

 the ship flying north. 



Instead of going straight into Valetta, we spent several days 

 to the south of the island, waiting till the weather would permit 

 us to fire our gunlayers' tests. On the 19th a House-Martin 

 joined us, and on the 23rd, while steaming about some eight 

 miles south-west of the island, several Turtle-Doves passed us, 

 and a Blue-headed Wagtail kept with us and occasionally 

 settled— wind N.E. by N. We went round to Valetta on the 

 24th, and I saw a Whitethroat, a Pied Flycatcher and a Wood- 

 Warbler ; the Sparrows had young. The next day the place 

 was crowded with these birds, and in addition I saw a pair of 

 Blackcaps and a Nightingale. 



On the 26th the bird catchers had numbers of Blue-headed 

 Wagtails and Meadow-Pipits, which they had caught the day 

 before, and I saw some Collared Flycatchers. At Valetta itself 

 there were no Swallows or Martins, but in the middle of the 

 island on the 27th I saw several. On the 29th the bird catchers 

 had a Golden Oriole. 



On April 30th we sailed for Gibraltar, and on the next day 

 a Swallow and Turtle-Dove joined us, our position being 37° 15' N, 

 10° 55' E, and the wind north-west. We reached Gibraltar on 

 May 4th, and I saw numbers of Swifts, but no Swallows till two 

 days later, and no Martins at all. From Gibraltar we went to 

 Arosa Bay (North Spain), and so back to England. 



