Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 4 (1900).djvu/483

Rh The mainland in the neighbourhood of Gibraltar is wild, mountainous, and for the most part uncultivated. Trees are mainly present in the shape of extensive forests of cork-oaks. The population is scanty, and for the most part collected in small towns and large villages, and not scattered over the face of the land in numerous small homesteads as at Arosa Bay.

Aranei Bay, in the north of Sardinia, where, during a short visit a few records were made, is a very wild and barren spot, mountainous, without any large trees, and covered with low-lying scrub.

Gibraltar is too generally well known to require any special description.

To one whose observations have mainly been confined to the British Isles, at first sight the number and boldness of the Raptorial birds is quite astonishing. This is of course explained by the fact that there are no gamekeepers, and practically no game-laws; so that birds of prey have every opportunity to thrive and multiply. It is also astonishing that, in spite of their abundance, Warblers and other small birds are very plentiful. Two familiar birds, however—the Rook and the Song-Thrush—are conspicuous by their absence.

Turdus merula.—Blackbirds are very common in all the localities mentioned above, with the exception of Sardinia, where I did not observe them. At Gibraltar they are especially common, and one often observed them singing on the wing as they flew in a long downward slant from some highly elevated point to another lower down the rock.

Saxicola œnanthe.—The Wheatear was first observed at Gibraltar in March, 1899, when a fair number were about the rock. They disappeared, however, at the beginning of April, and when the Squadron returned, after a month's absence in May, not one was to be seen. Probably they were birds on migration. Both at Arosa Bay and in Sardinia this bird was not uncommon.

Pratincola rubetra.—The Whinchat was only observed in the neighbourhood of Algeciras, on the Spanish mainland opposite to Gibraltar, where it was first noticed on April 8th. Apparently it was present in fair numbers.

Ruticilla phœnicurus.—A few pairs of Redstarts were noticed