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8 



saw it in the Tatra mountains. According to Count Wodzicki it breeds there, at an altitude of 

 from 4000 to 5000 feet. Schauer informed me that he shot, in July 1856, many young birds 

 (which had remains of down on the head and nape) in the Stanislauer mountains ; and Professor 

 Braun found a young bird, unable to fly, in a wood near Lemberg," In Denmark, Mr. Benzon 

 writes, " it is called NceddeJcrige ; and I have never heard the name of Pletfugl (which Kjserbolling 

 gives it) used. It occurs sporadically in the late autumn and winter, some years in considerable 

 flocks ; and many are snared together with Thrushes, and numbers shot ; for they are not shy." In 

 Denmark, also, the Nutcracker has been found breeding ; and of Mr. Benzon's most excellent and 

 copious notes on the niclification of this bird a translation will be found below. In Holland and 

 Belgium it occurs but rarely ; Baron De Selys-Longchamps says that several were taken in snares 

 in the latter country in September 1836. De la Fontaine speaks of it as occurring at irregular 

 intervals, generally during the autumn, in Luxemburg ; and Godron says the same regarding its 

 occurrence in Lorraine. Degland and Gerbe write that it occurs at irregular intervals in Nor- 

 mandy, Lorraine, and Languedoc, Basse-Provence, and Northern France. In 1844 specimens 

 were killed at Douai, Dunquerque, Abbeville, Dieppe, Troyes, and in several parts of Belgium. 

 Von Tschusi Schmidhofen says that Dr. Baldamus informed him that the Abbe Caire found the 

 nest and eggs near Sanieres, in the Basses-Alpes, as early as 1846. Dr. Companyo records it from 

 the Eastern Pyrenees as occurring only during very severe winters, and being rare, only coming at 

 irregular intervals. 



Lord Lilford writes to me stating that he himself never met with it in Spain ; but it is known 

 in the mountains of Aragon, and is recorded as having been met with in Estremadura by Captain 

 Cook Widdrington. Mr. Howard Saunders says (Ibis, 1871, p. 222) that Major Irby saw one 

 at Cordova, said to have been killed there, and that Lopez-Seoane mentions it as " rare in the 

 pine-woods of the Sierra Nevada in May." Passing eastward, again, I find it recorded as common 

 in Switzerland, where, Mr. Gatcombe informs me, he found it everywhere in the wooded mountain- 

 passes. Of later years only has its nest been found there, though it has long been known to 

 occur there during the breeding-season. Vogel obtained several nests with eggs from the Jura ; 

 and Von Tschusi Schmidhofen says (Der Tannenheher, p. 31) that Dr. Stolker obtained a nest with 

 three eggs in Graubunden, taken on the 22nd March, 1872. Dr. Stolker and Von Miiller record 

 it from St. Gallen and Appenzell, Tschudi from the canton Glaurus, De Salis from Graubunden, 

 Saraz from Engadin, where it occurs as high as 9000 feet, Vogel from the canton Solothurn, 

 where it breeds, Dr. Eohnert from above Zermatt ; and Von Tschusi Schmidhofen himself records 

 it as common in some parts of the canton Freiburg, as on the Barra and in the valleys of Charmey 

 and Laun. Canon Tristram (Ibis, 1863, p. 169) stated that he obtained eggs of the Nutcracker 

 from the valley of the Sixt, in Savoy ; but subsequently these proved not to belong to this species. 

 Both Cara and Salvadori record it as occasionally appearing in Sardinia ; and Lord Lilford writes 

 to me as follows : — " I found this species very abundant in the mountains in the neighbourhood 

 of the Col de Tenda and San Martino de Lantosca, not far from Nice, in August 1858. Our 

 guides assured me that the Nutcracker bred commonly in the pine-forests of that district, and 

 certainly described accurately the nest and eggs; they said that the birds nested early in the 

 year, long before the snow melted, and that the eggs were consequently not easy to obtain. 

 The name they gave this species was ' Elva,' or ' Eleva.' " Doderlein considers that its apparent 



