BIED NOTES BY THE WAY. 7 



Shrike-like looking bird (contrasting with the Woodchat, which 

 is not) ; it sits with a vigilant appearance on the topmost 

 twigs, dropping occasionally into the grass for food. The 

 black on the face is very noticeable. The flight is strong and 

 glancing, with but little undulation. I saw only only one red- 

 backed Shrike — a male — -which is a common bird in that part 

 of Northern Italy, I believe. Of Nightingales I heard two in 

 poor song in some bushes on the river bank, and another in 

 good song in a thicket of acacia, mulberry, &c. Among the 

 other birds met with were Tree Creepers, Blackcaps and 

 Blackbirds (both in song), a Blue-headed Wagtail, Spotted 

 Flycatchers, Goldfinches (numerous and in song), Great and 

 Blue Tits, &c. In the late afternoon I went up to Superga 

 by funicular railway, catching the steam tram-car train which 

 runs to the foot of the ascent by pursuing it in a cab ! Swifts 

 were whirling round the Basilica at the top (672 metres above 

 sea level) in great enjoyment. I came down on foot by the 

 zig-zag carriage road, as the thick shrub of oak, acacia, &c, 

 seemed to promise birds. The songs of the many Nightingales 

 were magnificent. Yet in England we hardly expect to hear 

 them at that date. A possible reason for their singing late in 

 the South is that they may habitually rear more than one 

 brood there. Bonelli's Warbler (Phijlloscopus bonellii) was 

 well suited by a locality like this, and was in song, as also was 

 one Sardinian Warbler and the Blackcap. 



On the 25th, as the train gradually rose to the Mont Cenis 

 tunnel, it passed through some thoroughly Swiss scenery ; grey 

 stone chalets with galleries, embowered often among Spanish 

 chestnut, cherry and walnut trees ; later on the pines came 

 quite down to the railway. But the country was remarkably 

 birdless. I could hear Blackbird and Chaffinch, and a Green 

 Woodpecker with a call like G. viriclis, but no Black Redstarts 

 sat conspicuously on the roof ridges, as would surely have 

 been the case in Switzerland. After passing Modane, we des- 

 cended rapidly. We passed a flooded marsh with a thin 

 growth of reeds, on one of which I saw a Great Beed Warbler 

 (A. turdoides) clinging in true Acrocephaline fashion. At 

 Epierre (369 metres) I was reminded that on entering France 

 I had immediately exchanged the company of Passer italics 



