Collection of Birds from the Mediterranean. 143 



all appeared to have departed by mid-April. ]\Iigrants from 

 farther south did not seem to stop in Crete. 



Malta. — As eai'ly as 9th March a migratory movement took 

 })lace, all the birds being in, or nearly in, summer-plumage. 

 Whether these birds were winter visitors or migrants from 

 further south (it being observed that the migration via 

 jNIalta appai'ently starts a fortnight or so earlier than that 

 via Crete) was not clear. Last record 10th March. 



[A female (Crete, March 1st) is moulting on the head, 

 neck, breast, secondaries, and tail, while another of the same 

 date has completed its moult. — H. F. IF.] 



Certhia brachydactyla ultramontana Hart. 



Veiy plentiful at Corfu in mid-winter, frequenting the 

 olive-groves. It is presumably resident there. 



Observed at Platea in December and in family-parties in 

 July, frequenting the oak trees cbiefly. 



[Only one specimen was preserved, and that from Corfu. 

 Throus;h the kindness of Herr Reiser, 1 have examined two 

 others from Corfu and eight from Greece, and I can detect 

 no difference in them, and think that they should all be 

 refen-ed to this race. — H. F. TV.] 



SiTTA NEUMAYER NEUMAY'ER Michah. 



Tlie Rock-Nuthatch, a species the individuals of which 

 are apparently everywhere quite sedentary, was found locally 

 plentiful in Greece (Platea and Athens), Smyrna, the island 

 of Mitylene, and Albania. It was not met with in Crete, 

 where much suitable ground near the coast exists, but may 

 perhaps be found among the unexplored mountains inland. 

 Neither was it met with at Lemnos, where the formation 

 and vegetation seemed identical with that of Mitylene, only 

 forty miles away. 



Both in winter and in the breeding-season the Rock-Nut- 

 hatch is a very noisy bird, and its rattling trills and varied 

 cries may frequently be heard half a mile away. Among 

 the Hymettos Hills, near Athens, numbers were breeding in 

 April. On the 13th a nest with the female sitting on eight 

 iialf-incubated eggs was found. This nest was situated in a 



