2466 The Zoologist — February, 1871. 



to be the case in England ; indeed, among the dozens which 

 I examined, I only found one, which I skinned and brought home 

 with me ; but I did not detect a single example in the purer gray 

 plumage said to be observable in Sylvia Cairii. 



Among the buntings on a stall at Lugano I detected a fine pair 

 of Emberiza Cia, the first I had ever seen in the flesh ; and at a 

 birdstu tier's shop in Munich I bought a beautiful female goshawk, 

 in the flesh, for something less than a shilling: this very rare 

 species in Britain seems to abound in some parts of the Continent, 

 as the birdstuffer's shops and museums contain numerous specimens 

 in every stage of plumage. 



The common buzzard was the most plentiful bird of prey 

 I observed in a wild state: it might be seen daily flying over 

 the woods on the mountain sides or perched on stones in the 

 meadows : I observed one fine specimen nailed above a cottage 

 door in a small town. 1 also saw some marsh harriers and one 

 hen harrier. 



At the museum of Swiss birds in Lucerne there was a magnificent 

 whitetailed eagle, in the flesh, just killed on a neighbouring moun- 

 tain : it measured about eight feet across the wings, and I was told 

 by the proprietor of tlie museum that it was much rarer than the 

 golden eagle in that locality, which rather surprised me. He also 

 showed me a beautiful male sand grouse {Si/rrhaptes paradoxus), 

 which had been killed some time during the past summer near 

 Lucerne, and an immature pomarine skua, obtained on the 

 Lake. 



When ascending the Pass of St. Gothard I observed a iew black 

 redstarts flitting about among the rocks, but nothing else worthy of 

 note. At the little village of Andermatt, approaching the top of 

 St. Gothard, 1 found out another museum of Swiss birds, the owner 

 of which, F. J. Nager Donazians, showed me a fine collection of 

 skins and eggs, some of which I bought, and found him by far 

 more reasonable in his prices than any other collector I had met 

 with on the Continent. 



At Bellinzola I observed, hanging outside a game-shop, a 

 beautiful hybrid between the capercaillie and black grouse, for 

 which they had the conscience to ask forty francs, and would 

 not take one farthing less, which price of course 1 would not 

 give, but on my return to London bought one equally fine for ten 

 shillings. 



