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that it ever remains there to breed. In Southern Germany it is tolerably common at all seasons 

 of the year. I found it breeding near Cilli, in Styria ; and Dr. A. Fritsch says that it breeds in 

 the conifer-woods of Bohemia, and is common in winter in the flat localities, sometimes occurring 

 in flocks of from twenty to thirty individuals. In the wooded districts in the countries bordering 

 the Danube it appears to be not uncommon, and is stated to occur also in the wooded districts 

 of Southern Russia, being met with, Professor von Nordmann says, near Odessa at all seasons 

 of the year. It doubtless occurs in Asia Minor; but I have no details thence. In Palestine 

 it is not of common occurrence, and only found in the wooded districts and highlands. It is 

 found in North-east Africa, being, Captain Shelley believes, a resident in Egypt ; and Dr. von 

 Heuglin says that it is not rare in winter in Egypt and Arabia Petrsea, but does not appear to 

 occur there every year. He obtained one near Alexandria late in March 1851. It is also met 

 with in North-western Africa, being, Loche says, met with throughout the wooded and moun- 

 tainous portions of Algeria ; but the English travellers who collected there do not appear to have 

 met with it ; and Favier does not record its occurrence in Tangier. It is, however, dispersed 

 throughout the Atlantic islands, though it is nowhere abundant. Mr. Godman, who records it 

 from the Azores, says that it inhabits the eastern and central groups. He obtained one procured 

 at Fayal, and he frequently heard of it in St. Michael's ; but it is nowhere common, and he never 

 met with it living. Dr. C. Bolle also states (J. f. O. 1854, p. 450) that it occurs in the wooded 

 districts in the Canaries ; and Mr. Godman says that it is occasionally found in Madeira, where 

 it probably breeds. 



To the eastward it is found as far as China and Japan. Menetries obtained it in the forests 

 of Lenkoran. Mr. Abbott obtained it at Trebizond, and Major St. John near Shiraz. Mr. A. O. 

 Hume says (Rough Notes, p. 363) that he has received a specimen killed at Bhoondsee, Zillah 

 Gourgaon, and another from near Hansee, both killed in the cold weather. They are far from 

 uncommon about Darjeeling, at any rate during the early part of the cold weather. Whether 

 *hey remain in the Himalayas throughout the year he is unable to say ; but he received a speci- 

 men killed near Narkunda in June ; and Dr. Stoliczka notices their being found in the forests 

 near Nachar. Dr. Jerdon states (B. of India, i. p. 126) that it has " only been found in the 

 Himalayas from Nepal to Cashmere, and but rarely, more common perhaps towards Afghan- 

 istan;" and he further writes (Ibis, 1871, p. 345) that he has found it by no means rare in the 

 cold weather from near Delhi throughout the Punjab. Dr. Severtzoff says that it is found 

 throughout Turkestan during passage, but is very rare at any other season of the year ; and it is 

 recorded from Siberia by the Russian explorers who visited that country. Von Middendorff shot 

 one at Udskoj-Ostrog on the 7th August ; Von Schrenck obtained it on the Lower Amoor, close 

 to the mouth of the Ussuri, in September ; and Dr. Radde states that he saw numbers in the 

 Bureja Mountains, during passage, late in September. In April 1856 he observed it here and 

 there in the elevated steppes of Dauria, and shot one on the 21st April at the Tarei-nor. He 

 never found it breeding ; but, according to Mr. Taczanowski, Dr. Dybowski records it as breeding 

 in the vicinity of Darasun, in Dauria. Mr. R. Swinhoe records it from Tientsin, in China, and 

 says that it is more or less common in many parts of that country ; and Mr. Whitely obtained it 

 at Hakodadi, in Japan. In the Nearctic Region it is replaced by a closely allied species, Asio 

 americanus, which, though separable from our European bird, so closely resembles it that it can 



