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generally distributed during the breeding-season, but does not remain long in Provence, as it 

 proceeds to the Basses-Alpes to breed. Dr. E. Eey met with it in Portugal in April ; and the 

 various authors on Spanish ornithology speak of it as common during the two seasons of 

 migration. Colonel Irby informs me that at Gibraltar he observed the first on the 4th of March, 

 and on the return migration the last were seen on the 13th of November, but he never found it 

 breeding in Spain ; and Mr. Howard Saunders (Ibis, 1871, p. 211) says that it is " a regular 

 visitor in autumn and spring" to Southern Spain. In Switzerland and Savoy it is numerous 

 during the summer ; and Bailly remarks that a somewhat smaller race appears to inhabit the 

 more arid portions of the mountains of Savoy. Savi records it as common during the summer 

 in Tuscany; and Salvadori (J. f. O. 1865, p. 136) says that he has obtained specimens in the 

 winter in Sardinia, between Scaffa and La Maddelena, and saw many in the spring in April. 

 Professor Doderlein says that it passes through Sicily during the two seasons of migration, and a 

 few pairs remain to breed in the more elevated districts. Mr. C. A. Wright records it from 

 Malta, where, he says (Ibis, 1864, p. 165) it is "abundantly spread over the island in spring and 

 autumn. In the former season it commences to appear in March, and in the latter in August." 

 The late Captain E. M. Sperling (Ibis, 1864, p. 279) says that he met with it in " Greece, Rhodes, 

 Candia — in fact, on all the islands and shores of the Mediterranean that I have visited, this little 

 bird is to be seen both in summer and winter. In the ardent heats of summer they, together 

 with the Bee-eaters, seem to enjoy the hottest rays of the sun on the most barren places, when 

 every other bird is in the shade." Von der Miihle and Lindermayer, however, do not say any 

 thing respecting its occurrence in Greece in winter, merely stating that it remains there during 

 the summer. Mr. H. Seebohm has lately sent me some interesting notes on the distribution of 

 the present species and its allies in Greece, which it may not be out of place to insert here, 

 though a large portion of these notes refer to the Isabelline Chat. He says that " the distribu- 

 tion of the Chats in the mountainous country on both sides of the archipelago is very interesting. 

 The character of the scenery is almost precisely similar to that of the limestone districts of 

 Derbyshire or North Wales, but of course on a much grander scale. The Parnassus, for example, 

 rises about eight thousand feet above the level of the sea, and may be taken as a fair type of the 

 scenery of Greece and Asia Minor. It may be conveniently divided into four regions, each of 

 about two thousand feet elevation, and each having its own botanical and ornithological character. 

 When I visited the Parnassus in May, the upper region was nothing but bare rock and snow- 

 Below this district comes the pine-region. The whole country, however, is so full of rocks and 

 stones, that most of the mountain-sides are but thinly planted with stunted pines, on the plateaux 

 generally alternating with juniper-bushes. On these plateaux Pratincole/, rubicola is common, 

 and Saxicola cenanthe is frequently seen, both species breeding there. Below the pine-region is 

 the district where the peasants build their summer villages, a range of mountain-slopes upon 

 which a coarse herbage struggles for existence amongst the rocks and stones which abound 

 everywhere. Here the two Chats which I have mentioned disappear, and their place is taken 

 by Saxicola melanoleuca and S. stapazina. These two Chats are the commonest birds in this 

 district ; and it is seldom that you cannot see three or four of them in a conspicuous position on 

 the surrounding rocks. They in turn disappear as you descend into the valleys, the region of 

 the vine and olive. In these sultry plains, where the winter villages of the peasants are scattered 



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