18 Proceedinijs. 



uniform chocolate-colour, and this species is known as the 

 Italian House Sparrow. You may often see our English Tree 

 Sparrow mixed up in the same flock with the Italian House 

 Sparrows. Amongst the birds of prey the Black Kite 

 abounds ; this species is piscatorial in its habits, catching 

 fish with its feet ; it is very silent, though the same bird in 

 Cairo is noisy. Wherever there are rocks Buzzards may be 

 seen ; they were breeding half-way down a most precipitous 

 cli£f ; Mr. Wallis saw one carrying food, apparently a Lizard, 

 to its young. At Porlezza he saw a Golden Eagle pursued by 

 a Falcon. The Kock Thrush, though very shy, is not scarce; 

 the male is a very handsome bii-d, with a slaty-grey head 

 and back, a chestnut breast, and ruddy tail ; the female is of 

 a cinnamon-brown ; in May the males were in full song, and 

 sang continuously without a pause whilst on the wing. In 

 the cliffs hundreds of Crag Martins or Cliff Swallows breed, 

 placing their nests against the overhanging ledges of rock ; 

 in Porlezza they were picking up mud in the streets ; they 

 resemble Sand Martins, but are as large as House Martins ; 

 their note is harsh, and consists of three syllables run into 

 one. Ked-backed Shrikes, Nightingales, and Blackcaps are 

 numerous. Amongst the tall reed-stems of Lake Varese he 

 found nests of the Great Eeed Warbler, a sombre, shy bird, 

 about the size of a Sky Lark ; its voice is harsh and resonant ; 

 eggs, which he exhibited, might be mistaken for Sparrows', 



Amongst the many exquisite plants growing on the rocky 

 banks, pre-eminent for beauty is a Tiger Lily ; its growth is 

 stunted, the stem wiry, and heads of flowers large, so that it 

 far surpasses in beauty the cultivated plants we are familiar 

 with. Other striking plants are the White Asphodel and a 

 Saxifrage {SaxiJ'raya (Jutyledun), bearing a spike of bloom a 

 foot in length. 



The Butterflies vary in a marked manner from those we 

 are familiar with at home ; the Small Heath, for instance, is 

 a size larger than ours, and the Blues seem to form many 

 intermediate links between one type and another. 



Beetles are not abundant ; their increase must be very 

 much checked by Lizards. Rose Chaffers and Weevils seem 

 the commonest kinds. 



