12 Dr. H. II. Giglioli— The strange 



he had succeeded that day in capturing with a noose one 

 of the parent birds on the nest ; it had yellow eyes, and 

 proved on dissection to be the male. The next day he 

 secured the female in the same way, likewise on the nest; 

 she also had yellow irides ! 



The nest had been discovered by the shepherds at the end 

 of June, about ten days before Mr. Vallou reached Pizzocco ; 

 it was amongst the loose stones of a wall forming an en- 

 closure only about 15 metres from the spot where the 

 little girl got the first nest in 1899, from which my type 

 specimen came, and about 70 metres from the ma/ga of the 

 shepherds. The nest was well in amongst the loose stones, 

 but quite bare. To my mind there can be little doubt that 

 the adult couple captured on this nest are the parent birds of 

 the clutch of nestlings taken last year with one A. chiara<1i<R 

 amongst them, and also of the first brood got in July 1899, 

 from which my type came, and which, if the assertions of the 

 girl who got them and her father and brothers are to be 

 accepted, were all of the black-eyed kind. 



On his way back Mr. Vallon was obliged to take shelter 

 from the rain in a malga halfway between Pizzocco and the 

 plain ; the shepherd there assured him that four years ago 

 he had himself used a black-eyed Civetta for capturing 

 small birds ; this would make the ninth specimen of this 

 peculiar form, unless it were one of the wanderers of the 

 first set. 



The five nestlings of this year's catch are alive in the care 

 of Mr. Vallon at Udine ; he is bringing them up, and when 

 fully grown they will complete the family group, which I 

 intend keeping together in the Italian Collection of the Royal 

 Zoological Museum here. From Mr. Vallon's description of 

 the two young A. chiaradice, they in no way differ from the one 

 he brought up last year; but I have not yet seen them. As 

 to the parent birds, they are now before me, for Mr. Vallon 

 kindly sent them as soon as he got back to Udine. As he 

 himself remarked in his first letter to me after their capture, 

 they are both singular, and although they cannot in any 

 way be considered other than true A. noctua, yet they are 



