450 Baron de Selys-Longchamps on various 



ject, I will say here that I saw a second in the collection of the 

 Count Ercole Turati at Milan, a third equally superb in the 

 Museum of Florence, and a fourth in that of the University of 

 Pisa. An exaniple once possessed by King Victor Emmanuel, 

 in his collection at Veneria Reale, he presented (at the request 

 of his son-in-law, the King of Portugal, also distinguished as a 

 patron of ornithology) to the Museum of Lisbon, where it now 

 is*. This specimen formerly belonged to the Marquis de Breme, 

 Grand Master of the Royal Household, who gave the King of 

 Italy his rich collection of European birds at present deposited 

 at Veneria Realc, wherein its place is now, it appears, taken by 

 the s])ecimen once the propei'ty of the late Pastor Brehm [supra, 

 p. 258]. 



I will take this opportunity of mentioning that in 1840, when 

 attending the meeting at Turin of Italian savans, I obtained from 

 the late M. Verany the example of Alca impennis which is now 

 in my collection. It had been left with him for sale on com- 

 mission by, I think, M. Verreaux, if my memory does not de- 

 ceive me. All the specimens I have mentioned are in breeding- 

 plumage, as is also that in the Museum of Brussels, obtained 

 during the administration of the Viscount Bernard du Bus. 



While on the subject of extinct birds I may state that I saw 

 in Italy two examples of Nestor productus — one in the Museum 

 of Count Turati, the other in that of Florence. 



Among the birds of the Turin Museum, though I do not 

 mean to dwell longer on exotic species, I examined Hypocolius 

 ampelinus [cf. Ibis, 1868, pp. 181-183, pi. v.), which seems to 

 me to belong evidently to the family Coliidce. It differs from 

 the genus Colius in its longer bill and squarer tail. 



M. Salvadori showed me a Sylvia from Crete, which resembles 

 S. rueppelli, but seems to me to form a smaller race. He in- 

 forms me that in Piedmont neither Emberiza pyrrhuloides nor 

 the typical E. schoeniclus occurs, but only E. intermedia, with 

 the bill swollen, rather variable, and often passing into that of E. 

 schoeniclus. He lastly made me remark that the Corvus comix 

 which breeds on the coast of Liguria seems to be derived from 

 C. corone. Specimens are often black, with grey on the breast 

 * Ibis, 18G8, p. 457. 



