10 
its colony ot Spanish sparrows [Passer hispuniolensis, Temm.), 
but I do not positively recollect them at the present moment, 
when I am without my notes, and, like the Yankee who made the 
famous shot, “ I. wouldn t tell a lie for a dii’ty little sparrow.” 
Ihe common buzzard is generally distributed, and as I obtained 
an immature specimen of what Mr. J. II. Gurney has pronounced 
to be the African buzzard, [Duteo desertorum, Daud.) it is very 
likely to bo found breeding, as it is common in Barbary and 
iMoiocco. The honey buzzard [Perms apivorus, L.) occurs in vast 
numbers at the seasons of migration, when I have seen them like 
flocks of rooks at sunset. Ihe kite [J\Iilvus iefinus, Savig.) jis a 
resident, and the black kite [AI. miQrcins) as a spring and summer 
visitant, are abundant, and I have one fine adult specimen of the 
black-winged kite [Elanus ccerulcus), a species which has, I am 
informed, been recently obtained in Ireland : v. Ibis, 1872, p. 470. 
Of the true falcons, the peregrine is generally distributed, and I 
have a single specimen of its miniature, the little Barbary falcon, 
which is })robably a resident in some of the southern mounhiins. 
The true lanner [F. lanarius, Lin.), so often confounded with the 
saker, owing to the latter having liad the name F. laniarins 
(Pallas) bestowed upon it, has been once obtained, and may prove 
to bo a resident overlooked : if so the wild districts between 
Granada ami Lorca will probably prove its stronghold. Tlie little 
merlin is a visitant, but the hobby remains to breed, whilst its 
long-winged congener the eleonoran ftilcon swarms in the cliffs of 
the island of Dragouera, though rare elsewhere. Both the common 
and the lesser kestrels are extremely numerous and occasionally the 
red-footed falcon [F. vespertinus) pays a flymg visit. Of the short- 
winged hawks, the goshawk and the sparrow hawk are both residents, 
and the marsh and Montague’s harriers are abundant, especially the 
former ; the hen harrier I obtained in autumn and winter only. 
The little owl [Carine noctua) is very common, but I never 
met with the north African species [C. meridioimlis). The wood 
owl [Strix ahico) is doubtless a resident, but I did not 
actually find it breeding, whereas the long-eared owl breeds as far 
south as Granada. The short-eared owl occurs in autumn, when 
the cape owl [Otiis capensis) makes its appearance, for the dis- 
covery of which we are indebted to Major II. L. Irby, well-known 
to Norfolk naturalists. Ihe barn owl is common, and the largest 
c 2 
