Mr. J. A. Bucknill on the 
“ birds whicli fly in flocks together like Starlings and which, 
u as soon as they come to Cyprus, with their song and flight 
“ destroy the locusts which infest the Island/'’ 
The capturing of hawks and their compulsory despatch to 
the Sultan is mentioned by an English visitor in 1596. 
A Utrecht lawyer in 1598 mentions that “ the number of 
“different birds is very large: Woodpigeons, Quails, 
“ Partridges, Pheasants, Ducks, and Geese, abound, while 
“ Turtle Doves are as plentiful as Sparrows with us . . . . there 
“ are many Eagles and Hawks, even Merlins and Peregrines.” 
In 1631 a gentleman from Bruges staying at Nicosia writes 
that the number of Crows was incredible, the trees being 
black with them; one of his party brought down several 
with a shot from his arquebus and thereby fell into serious 
trouble with the Turkish populace. The same writer refers 
to “ the delightful music of the Nightingales.” 
There are references by another author who was in Cyprus 
in 1683 to “certain birds not unlike Plovers,” and to 
another sort “ not unlike Ducks with a pointed beak,” both 
of which destroyed locusts. 
A writer in the early years of the 18th century mentions 
the abundance of Snipe; Dr. Pococke, F.R.S., in 1738 is 
attended at Papho by the chief dignitary’s Falconer with his 
Hawk, he identifies the local Partridge as the same as that 
of France and mentions the Francolin. 
The most important chronicler of Cyprus under Turkish 
rule was the Abbe Mariti, who resided in the island from 
1760 to 1767. He inserted in his f Travels’ a few remarks 
on Natural History: he writes “ Among birds the commonest 
“ are Francolins, Partridges, Woodcocks, Quails, Thrushes, 
“ and every kind of waterfowl ” ; he also mentions the 
Beccafico, Ortolan, and Vultures. 
Passing from the casual references of those who wrote on 
general matters relating to the island, we come to the first 
scientific writer who, so far as I am aware, visited Cyprus. 
Dr. J. Sibthorp, the editor of the f Flora Grseca’ and founder 
of a Professorship of Rural Economy at Oxford, visited the 
island in 1787; he made considerable collections and prepared 
important lists of and notes on the local Birds, Mammals, 
