Letters, Extracts, Notices, b;c. l V77 



Sirs, — During the past winter I have had the satisfaction 

 of verifying the fact that the Carrion-Crow {Corvus corone) 

 visits Sicily in winter, and is to be found there in considerable 

 numbers between the months of October and April. 



The occurrence of this species in Sicily has hitherto been 

 looked upon as extremely doubtful, notwithstanding Mal- 

 herbe's inclusion of it among the birds of the island, and it 

 is only now that the doubt may be considered as entirely 

 removed and C. corone allowed to take its place as a member 

 of the Sicilian Ornis. 



On the 30th of January last, through the kindness of a 

 friend, I received a few specimens of birds, in the flesh, from 

 the neighbourhood of Comiso in the Province of Syracuse, and 

 among them was delighted to find an undoubted example of 

 C. corone. I immediately wrote to my friend at Comiso for 

 some more of the birds, and in a few days' time received two 

 other specimens of the Carrion-Crow, together with three of 

 the Rook (C.frugitegus), all obtained in the same district of 

 Comiso. Finally, on the 21st of March, I received a fourth 

 example of C. corone from the vicinity of Ragusa, also in the 

 Province of Syracuse. 



From the local " cacciatori " of the above-mentioned dis- 

 tricts I learn that the " Cornacchie " (no distinction appears 

 to be made by the Sicilian country-folk between the Crow 

 and the Rook, and probably, through want of opportunity, 

 the difference between the two species has not been noticed 

 by them) visit the province of Syracuse regularly in October 

 and November, spending the winter months there, and leaving 

 again in the spring. Apparently neither species nests in 

 Sicily. 



The southern and south-eastern parts of Sicily seem to 

 attract both the Crow and the Rook more than do the northern 

 and central districts of the island, although in the latter also 

 either one or both species may apparently be met with occa- 

 sionally, and I have myself seen what, at the time, I took to 

 be a flock of Rooks near the small town of Mezzojuso in the 

 interior of the Province of Palermo. C. frugilegus, I may 

 here observe, may often be seen in winter-time in large flocks 



