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NOTES ON ZONAL DISTRIBUTION IN THE 
MOUNTAINS OF LATIUM, ITALY. 
BY 
Cc. J. ALEXANDER, B.Sc. (Aeric.). 
To an ornithologist accustomed to the south-east of England, 
where the differences of altitude are not sufficient to cause 
any differences in the bird population,* it is naturally of 
great interest to be able to ‘study a region in which an 
altitudinal range of more than 2,000 metres (nearly 7,000 
feet) occurs within a distance of fifty miles. Though I was 
in Latium for nearly five years (June, 1911 to February, 1916), 
it was rarely that I could get away from Rome or Albano 
(where I lived for the last three years) except on Sundays ; 
the only occasion on which I visited the higher mountains _ 
wasin June and July, 1913, when my brother, H. G. Alexander, 
and I spent a fortnight in the Monti Simbruini. Considering 
how little has been published on zonal distribution in Europe, 
I believe that the observations here given may be of value. 
As birds are so obviously dependent on vegetation, it is 
natural to study their altitudinal distribution in connection 
with the zones of vegetation which have been established. 
In Latium the following are recognized : 
1. Mediterranean, extending from sea-level to between 
300 and 500m. according to aspect and distance from the 
coast. 
2. Submontane (or Chestnut Zone), up to 800-1,000 m. 
3. Montane (or Beech Zone), up to 1,700-1,850 m. 
4. Subalpine, to the tops of most of the mountains. 
5. Alpine, represented on exposed peaks from 2,000 to 
2,150 m., the latter being the highest point attained here 
(M. Viglio, on the Abruzzi border). 
THE MEDITERRANEAN ZONE covers large areas; it should 
be noted that the sclerophyllous vegetation, so character- 
istic of it, is here confined to certain stations (the neigh-— 
bourhood of the coast, slopes facing the sun, etc.), while the 
majority of the low ground belongs to deciduous formations— 
woods of elm, oaks of several species, poplars, etc. A great 
part of it is now pasture or under the plough. In this zone 
a number of our British residents are only winter visitors— — 
Mistle-Thrush, Song-Thrush, Goldcrest, Hedge-Sparrow, Coal- 
Tit, Meadow-Pipit, Hawfinch, Bullfinch, Yellowhammer, 
* With the possible exception of Nightingale.—See N. F. 
Ticehurst, A History of the Birds of Kent (1909), p. 32. 
