416 Mr. H. M. Dinimmond : Catalogue of Birds found 



Sylvia conspicillata. Very common : arrive 27 th of March and remain 



all summer. 

 Regulus ignicapillus (B.). Found during the winter in Corfu, and 



frequent the olive- groves in considerable numbers : disappear in 



spring. 

 Troglodytes vulgaris (B.). Not very common, but remains during the 



year. 

 Saxicola cenanthe (B.). Common during the passage ; arrives the 



end of March. 

 aurita. Arrives in considerable numbers 1st of April : does 



not remain. 



stapazina. Arrives in considerable numbers 1st of April : a 



few remain during the summer, and breed on the citadel rock at 

 Corfu*. 



ruhetra (B.). Rare : seen occasionally during the winter. 



rubicola (B.). Very common : remains all the year round. 



Motacilla alba. This is the common pied wagtail of the continent, 

 and differs from the English one ; is most numerous in winter, 

 when they may be seen in large flocks frequenting the marshes : 

 disappears in summer. 



flava (B. ?). This bird also differs from the common yel- 

 low wagtail of England in having the head in the breeding-sea- 

 son of a jet-black, at other times it is of a lead-colourf. ITiese 

 birds appear in great numbers about the 1st of April, but disap- 

 pear in winter ; in the spring they are caught in large numbers by 

 means of the clapnet, and are sold for a penny a-piece to the 

 Greeks, who generally cut their wings and turn them loose in 

 their houses for the purpose of destroying the flies, which they 

 soon learn to do, catching them in the most dextrous manner ; 

 consequently this and the foregoing species only are known by 

 the name of the flycatcher. The Muscicapa is never used for this 

 purpose. 



* The general opinion among ornithologists now is, that Saxicola aurita 

 is only a different state of plumage of S. stapazina, though I believe their 

 identity is not yet actually demonstrated. On this point Capt. Drummond 

 writes to me, " Saxicola stapazina and S. aurita I consider as decidedly 

 different birds. The aurita is far more numerous in Corfu during its passage 

 in the spring, but I have never seen it during the summer months ; while, 

 on the other hand, the stapazina breeds there, and I have found their nests 

 on the citadel rocks." These facts however are quite consistent with the 

 specific identity of the two birds, for if the so-called S. aurita be only the 

 winter plumage of stapazina, its apparent disappearance in spring would 

 be owing, not to emigration, but to a change of costume. — H. E. S. 



f This is an important statement, as the black-headed wagtail is consi- 

 dered by the Italian naturalists to be a distinct species from the gray-headed 

 ones, which they further divide into two species, one with a white stripe over 

 the eye {M.fiava of North Europe and accidentally of Britain), and the 

 other without. Do all these three kinds inhabit the Ionian Islands ? and 

 do they all appear to pass into each other ? It would be desirable to 

 ascertain whether these supposed changes of colour take place in the domes- 

 ticated individuals. — H. E. S. 



