330 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
The short-eared and Scopes owls are migratory species ; both 
pass and repass the Mediterranean in great numbers every 
spring and autumn^ not in flocks_, but singly ; the latter is 
much in request as an article of food^ and killed in several of 
the islands in large numbers; during its passage through 
Malta dozens of this handsome little owl may be seen in the 
poultry market. As beetles, moths, and the larger insects 
constitute the favourite food of the Scopes owl, and bats enter 
largely into the fare of its short-eared congener, it may be 
supposed neither can have much inducement to prolong its 
stay in Europe after September. 
The night-jar, although late in arriving in the north of 
Europe, crosses the Mediterranean in March ; the nocturnal 
habits of the bird, by restricting its movements to night and 
twilight, will account for its slow progress ; it is also much 
esteemed by the natives of the south as an article of food. 
None of the swallow tribe are more exact in their times of 
arrival and departure than the swifts, which seem to proceed 
further southwards than any of the others ; whether from 
sudden failure of food or change of climate, or both, it is 
seldom the black swift tarries on its way ; for, not content 
with the climate of the southern shores of the great inland 
sea, it pushes on with little delay to Abyssinia, Nubia, and 
even Timbuctoo. The Alpine swift passes to and from Europe 
in small numbers ; compared with the last-named species, this 
is a hardy bird ; we have seen it and the house marten sporting 
around Alpine glaciers at the latter end of August, when there 
was a hoar frost every night, and occasional heavy falls of 
snow ; many Alpine swifts spend the entire year on thfe Hima- 
layan ranges. The chimney, house, and sand swallows make 
their first appearance in spring, and leave Europe in the order 
here given ; none seem to pass the winter in any of the islands, 
and on their arrival in Africa move steadily southwards to 
more genial regions. The rock swallow and rufous swallow 
make regular migrations from Asia Minor to south-eastern 
Europe, few venturing westward of Greece. Owing to the 
strong N.E. winds that prevail during the cold months, and 
sweep along the Mediterranean basin with great violence, 
many birds are blov/n from one coast to another, and turn up 
in districts in every way uncongenial to their habits and wants : 
thus are recorded by 0. A. Wright, Esq., in his admirable 
catalogue of Birds observed in Malta,^"’ the appearance of the 
diminutive golden and fire-crested wrens among the woodless 
tracts of these bare islands ; supposing them to have come from 
the nearest point of Sicily, they must have flown at least fifty 
miles ! Along the shores of the Mediterranean the approach of 
spring is heralded by flocks of gaudy bee-eaters which may be 
seen advancing northwards in scattered hosts, emitting their cha- 
