13 
Ornithology of Cyprus. 
This is quite a mistake, though it is not difficult to trace 
how the error arose. Perhaps the most common reference 
by writers about Cyprus from the 16th ceutury onwards is 
to the “ Vine-birds ” and their delectable qualities on the 
table, and they are described in many different ways. Locke 
(1553) says “ they are much like unto a Wagtaile in fethers 
and making. 55 Cotovicus (1598) writes “they are not 
unlike the Ortolans of Italy/ 5 Mariti (1760-7;, who was 
not a naturalist but a very careful observer, and probably 
recognised that the birds caught were not always identical, 
speaks of “ the beccafico and the Ortolan .... sold indis¬ 
criminately/’ Sibthorp, who was not in the Island at the 
time of their capture, but wrote from hearsay and no 
doubt with knowledge of the trade in real Ortolans in the 
south of Europe, declares that u immense flights of 
Ortolans appear about the time of the vintage; these are 
taken in great quantities, preserved in vinegar and exported 
as an object of commerce/’ The bird was included in 
Sibthorp’s list and duly appeared in those of Unger and 
Kotschy and of Muller. Lord Lilford was assured that the 
Garden Warbler was the species taken but could find out 
nothing about the matter during his stay, whilst neither 
he nor his collectors ever met with the Ortolan. Lord 
Lilford was, rightly, disposed to think that the Blackcap was 
“the principal victim/’ 
Glaszner seems to have been the first to clear up this con¬ 
fusion, and in writing to Madarasz he corrects an account 
contained in a German work on Birds (Naturgeschielite der 
deutschen Vogel, C. G. Friderlich) concerning the alleged 
traffic in Ortolans in Cyprus, by pointing out that the Black¬ 
cap is the chief species taken. 
The only authentic record of the Ortolan in Cyprus of 
which I am aware is that of a single specimen captured 
by Glaszner at Larnaca on April 13th, 1909, and sent to 
Madarasz. [Vide also Sylvia atricapilla , Ibis, 1909, p. 596.] 
517. Emberiza cassia Cretzschm. 
Cretzschmar’s Bunting is a very common summer visitor, 
arriving in March and leaving towards the beginning of 
