PASSING NOTES 



ON 



THE BIRDS OF ITALY. 



On the 30th of December, 1874, I was ensconced in a 

 railway carriage between Macon and Turin. We kept 

 passing continually rivers — affluents I suppose of the Rhone, 

 and at one place the waters swelled into a majestic lake. 

 Here I saw several hundred Ducks, all of which were gone 

 when I traversed the margin of the lake again in the 

 summer. Some which were nearer than the rest, I could 

 see to be common Wild Ducks. 



Shortly before entering the famed tunnel of Mount 

 Cenis, which took us twenty-five minutes to pass through, 

 my attention was directed to some flocks of Alpine Choughs, 

 looking exactly like Jackdaws, which I thought they were, 

 until one came near enough for me to see its yellow bill. 



I will now say something about the Natural History of 

 Turin, which Bradshaw describes as a brand new city. So it 

 is, and a very good one ; capital shops and good hotels. 

 The completion and opening of a new arcade was celebrated 

 while I was there, to be called the " Galleria subalpina." 

 Perhaps I cannot give a better idea of its avifauna than by 

 a list of the birds in the market. 



