236 Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, S^c. 



some fishy substance, not distinguishable. This species has been 

 killed several times in Norfolk, but not, I believe, since 1849. 

 The present example was shot on some brackish waters, which 

 on Salthouse beach run parallel with the sea-banks, and, to use 

 the expression of the beachman who sent it me, " appeared to be 

 walking on the water/^ 



Yours, &c., 



H. Stevenson. 



To the Editor of ' The Ibis.' 



Porto S. Giorgio (Italy), November 25, 1862. 



Sir, — Reading in 'The Ibis^ your repeated invitations to 

 naturalists of all countries to second your endeavours by contri- 

 buting to the pages of 'The Ibis^ articles and information of 

 every sort relating to ornithology, I have determined to send you 

 some observations which I think very singular, and not unworthy 

 of the readers of ' The Ibis.^ 



Several years ago I went on a shooting expedition on the 

 Apennines, in theprovinceofAscoli, and precisely on the eastern 

 side of Mount Vetore, or Vittore, which is situated between the 

 Mountain of the Sibilla on the north and Mount Como or Gran 

 Sasso of Italy on the south. In the course of conversation with 

 some sportsmen of the village called Pietrare, I was told that on 

 the summits of Mount Vetore are found birds, called the Birds 

 of Mount Vetore [Uccelli di Vetore), which live in flocks, and of 

 which, during the winter (when, on account of the great snow, 

 they descend to the skirts), many are killed at one shot, and are 

 very fat. They were (not very clearly) described to me as being 

 a little larger than the Chaffinch [Fringilla coelebs), white, with 

 the wings and the tail white and black, and with the claw of the 

 hind toe rather long. Thence I inferred that the birds in ques- 

 tion were the Snow Buntings {Plectrophanes nivalis). At that 

 time I was far from supposing that this bird inhabited perma- 

 nently that locality. 



This year (1862), in the month of August, shooting on the 

 same ground, I resolved to ascend to the summit of Mount 

 Vetore (above the level of the sea 8100 Italian feet, or about 



