350 Mr. Joseph I. S. Whitaker on the 



In September they were absent, or, at any rate, I have no 

 note of any having been met with in Sicily during that month. 

 In October, however, they were again observed in consider- 

 able numbers near Palermo, several of the birds having been 

 seen in my garden between the 15th and 20th of that month. 

 No examples of the species having been observed in the 

 month of November, and the invasion having naturally been 

 supposed to have ended, it was somewhat of a surprise to 

 hear of fresh arrivals of Crossbills near Palermo towards 

 the end of December. According to information recently 

 received, I learn that a few Crossbills were seen in my 

 garden at the Villa Malfitano on the 29th of December, and 

 again on the 1st of January, and that several individuals of 

 the species had been observed, and examples obtained, in the 

 vicinity of Villa Grazia, near Palermo, on the 3rd of January, 



1910. 



Among the number of Crossbills which have been shot or 

 captured in Sicily during the recent invasion, so far as I am 

 aware, there have been none belonging to the Two-barred 

 species, L. bifasciata, or to any but the common form of 

 L. curvirostra. 



On the small island of Ustica, about forty miles to the 

 north of Sicily, Crossbills were observed in July. 



On the island of Favigrana, one of the group of the 

 yEgades, lying off the north-western corner of Sicily, large 

 numbers of Crossbills were reported as having been seen on 

 the 10th of July, and two examples of the species were sent 

 to me from that island a day or two afterwards. In August 

 the Crossbills appear to have again visited Favigrana in 

 considerable numbers. 



Of the occurrence of the species in the island of Malta I 

 have received the following interesting particulars from 

 Mr. Henry Twelves : — " About the 9th of July last Crossbills 

 appeared in nights of about ten or fifteen each, and were 

 abundant for about a week on the north and east sides of the 

 island. They subsequently collected wherever pine-trees were 

 to be found. Many were trapped, some very young, and very 

 few males in full red plumage. Towards the end of August 



