23 [Vol. xxv. 



time from Corsica, viz. Gyps fulvus (Gm.), Bubulcus ibis (L.), 

 and Sterna minuta, L. ; Sturnus unicolor, La Marm., has been 

 proved to breed in the southern part of the island ; a pair of 

 Phylloscopus sibilatrix (Bechst.) were found breeding in 

 1909, and a new colony of Larus audouini, Payr., was 

 discovered. Much of the interest attaching to Corsican birds 

 is due to the fact that many species are represented by insular 

 races : thus the Raven, Hooded Crow, Jay, Great, Blue, 

 and Coal-Tits, Goldcrest, Tree-Creeper, Woodchat, Gold- 

 finch, Citril Finch, Rock-Sparrow, Dipper, and Greater 

 Spotted Woodpecker of Corsica and Sardinia have all been 

 distinguished subspecifically. Of these the eggs of the 

 Tree-Creeper and Coal-Tit were obtained for the first 

 time, and only those of the Dipper and Goldcrest remain 

 undescribed." 



Mr. Read made a few remarks on the exhibits, calling 

 attention to the coloration of the eggs. In the Woodchat 

 there were three distinct types — the common or green, the 

 olive-brown, and the red, the latter being exceedingly hand- 

 some eggs. Strange to say, in the Red-backed Shrike the red 

 type of eggs was hardly ever met with in Corsica, nearly all 

 those exhibited having a white ground. Other eggs, such as 

 the Mistle-Thrush, Blackbird, Spotted Flycatcher, Sparrow- 

 Hawk, &c., had the ground-colour decidedly bluer than in 

 British specimens, whilst eggs of the Great Tit were more 

 richly marked with rusty-red. 



The Bee-eaters nested in small colonies in burrows in the 

 ground, about four to five feet in length by one to two feet 

 in depth. The set exhibited contained seven eggs, a larger 

 number than is usually attributed to this bird by ornitho- 

 logical writers. Amongst the sandy soil on which theyAvere 

 laid were a great many wing-cases of various kinds of beetles. 

 In another Bee-eater's burrow in the same colony was 

 found a nest of the Rock-Sparrow with six eggs. Mr. Read 

 also described tin- usual nesting-sites in Corsica of most of 

 the species represented by the exhibits. 



