confined to these localities, as I have found it in all suit- 

 able places on the shores of that sea, from the eastern 

 face of the Rock of Gibraltar to the promontory of 

 Akroteri in Cyprus. On the coast of Sardinia and its 

 adjacent islets the Rock-Dove is especially abundant, 

 and affords very pretty shooting from a boat. The 

 so-called "Blue Rock" of the dealers in Pigeons at 

 home is, if full-winged and vigorous, not, as I am 

 informed, " everybody's money " when liberated from 

 the traps at a fair distance. I cannot write on this 

 subject from personal knowledge, as the idea of shooting 

 at a bird that has been in captivity has always been 

 repugnant to me, but I can assure my readers that the 

 killing of wild Rock-Doves from a boat rocking on a 

 heaving sea, as they dart out of their caves, often almost 

 into the gunner's face, is by no means a contemptible 

 exercise of the art of shooting. From many of these 

 Mediterranean sea-caves, at the first shout, or rattle of 

 the oars, a cloud of Shags will dash out or drop like 

 stones from the rock-ledges into the sea, a pair of Blue 

 Rock-Thrushes will set up notes of very musical defiance, 

 a few White-bellied and Common Swifts, and perhaps a 

 Kestrel or two, will rush out with the Doves, and keep 

 screaming around, and occasionally a Seal will glide 

 from its resting-place and, passing under the boat, show 

 its head at a respectful distance out at sea. On the 

 only occasion on which I visited a cave on the English 

 coast in the hope of finding some Rock-Doves, we 

 discovered nothing more interesting than a few males of 

 our own species in a state of nature, a bundle of marine 

 fern, and an empty beer-bottle. Mr. H. Saunders states 



