346 Mr. Joseph I. S. Whitaker on the 



says that he had frequently known a shot fired at a party of 

 these birds perched on a tree, and some of their number 

 killed, without the survivors taking flight. What is still more 

 surprising, however, he states that he once saw some Cross- 

 bills feeding on a fir-tree which was being felled by the 

 woodcutters, and that on the branch on which the birds were 

 perched falling to the ground they followed it there and 

 continued their meal, in no way disconcerted. 



In Liguria, according to Prof. Regalia, large numbers of 

 Crossbills were observed during the month of September, 

 and notably in the neighbourhood of Cornigliano and Sestri 

 Ponente. Further west, and along the Italian Riviera, the 

 species appears to have been abundant in the autumn, and 

 even as late as the end of October. 



I am indebted to Signor Cesare Ragionieri, of Florence, for 

 some interesting notes regarding the incursion of Crossbills 

 in Tuscany and the Marche. The first arrivals in these 

 provinces appear to have been noticed about the middle of 

 July, and from that date onwards, until the end of August, 

 the passage of the birds continued more or less plentifully. 

 After that date it gradually decreased. 



In the neighbourhood of Leghorn and Pisa, and along the 

 Maremmana coast, Crossbills were observed in extraordinary 

 n umbers throughout a portion of the summer and until the 

 beginning of October. 



Signor Ragionieri speaks of the arrival of the birds in the 

 vicinity oL' Rimini, on the Adriatic coast, as being " simply 

 phenomenal/' and mentions the case of a local birdcatchcr 

 having snared no less than one thousand of them within the 

 space of about a month ! Although in some parts of the 

 country the close-time appears to have been respected, in 

 many others it was unfortunately not so, and vast numbers 

 of the poor birds consequently fell victims to the nets and 

 traps set for them, their excessive tameness rendering their 

 capture an easy matter. 



Signor Ragionieri himself frequently observed the Cross- 

 bills arriving of a morning, in flocks of varying numbers, 



