Avifauna of Italy. 191 



have been shot on Aspromonte, at the extreme end of Cala- 

 bria, ojoposite Messina. 



Gecinus viridis (Linn.). 



Our commonest Woodpecker. In Signer De Betta's col- 

 lection at Verona is a beautiful albino specimen, entirely of 

 a light canary-yellow^ except the head, which is red ; it was 

 shot in the neighbourhood a few years ago. I may add that 

 in Herr Finger^s collection in the Vienna Museum is an 

 albino of Dnjocopus martins, wholly white, except the top of 

 the head, which is red. 



Gecinus canus (Gm.). 



Very rare and exclusively alpine ; it appears to be less 

 uncommon on the Eastern Alps. Our collection possesses 

 two specimens — a male from the Valle di Non (Trento) , No- 

 vember 1853, and a female shot near Cremona in December 

 1869. 



COCCYSTES GLANDARIUS (LiuU.) . 



Quite accidental, but more frequently occurring near 

 Genoa. I have two specimens — one from near Pisa, April 

 1831, the other shot at Borzola, near Genoa, 20th March 

 1876 ; this is a male. 



Merops persicus. Pall. 



Very rare. I know of one specimen shot at Bari a few 

 years ago ; and our collection possesses one of those men- 

 tioned by Marquis Durazzo as having been captured near 

 Genoa in the spring of 1834, received in exchange from the 

 Genoa University Museum. 



? Caprimulgus tamaricis, Tristram. 



A curious small Goatsucker, which agrees very fairly with 

 the description and plate of this species {vide P. Z. S. 1864, 

 p. 170, and Ibis, 1866, p. 75, pi. xi.), has been received by 

 me from a dealer in Genoa, with the assurance that it was 

 shot near that city. It is a male, in good condition, but with 

 the halluces rubbed off, and has all the appearance of having 

 been mounted from the flesh. The dealer, Signor Borgioli, 

 received it from a friend who had kept no record of the date 



