56 Mr. J. I. S. Wlntaker on two 
the end of March it was no longer to be met with there, 
and I then found it and obtained specimens on Monte 
Aspro, in the Madonian range of mountains, at an altitude 
of about 1000 metres above sea-level. The JNIonte Aspro 
woods, which consist almost entirely of deciduous oak, 
with an undergrowth of bracken and other ferns, are re- 
markably fine, several of the trees being veritable giants. 
Owing, however, to the fact of the district being some- 
what inaccessible, it is but little known to the ordinary 
tourist travelling in Sicily, and few visitors to the island 
have any idea of the existence of these mountain-forests, 
which in extent and beauty rival those of more northern 
latitudes. According to historians, the greater part of the 
mountainous region of Sicily was once clothed with such 
primeval woods, which the ruthless hand of man has gra- 
dually swept away and reduced to tlieir present relatively 
insignificant proportions. 
During the first fortnight of April I obtained further 
specimens of A. sicula from Monte Aspro ; but by the middle 
of that month comparatively few of the birds were to be 
met with there, and by the end of it they seemed to have 
entirely left the locality and to have moved to some higher 
woods on the same range of mountains. Here, I feel 
sure, they must have settled down for the breeding-season, 
although my collector failed to find any of their nests, nor 
indeed did he nieet with the birds themselves on a subsequent 
visit which he paid to the neighbourhood about a month 
later. During the month of June, however, I sent him to 
another district lying to the east of JNlonte Aspro, but 
still in the Madonian or, more properly, the Nebrodian 
range of mountains; and here he found A. sicula com- 
paratively numerous, and was able to secure specimens of 
fully- grown young as well as of adult birds. He also found 
two nests, both containing half-fledged young birds, which 
were probably of the second brood. According to my 
collector's report, the nests were placed in the forks of olive- 
trees, at a height of about eight feet from the ground, and 
were domed at the top. The last-mentioned district, which 
