Birds. 4161 



contains a most valuable and beautifully mounted collection of birds. 

 Among other rarities, I saw there two fine examples of that scarce 

 pastor-like bird the Fregilupus varius (Bodd.), from the Mauritius, of 

 which, I believe, no specimen exists in the British Isles. 



It has been often remarked, that one of the first things that strikes 

 the observant traveller on the continent, is the great scarcity of birds. 

 In no part of France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, or Sicily, have I 

 seen them in such abundance as in England. This arises, I fancy, in 

 a great measure, from their being used as food in those countries to a 

 much greater extent than we have any notion of in England. Indeed, 

 the only birds I have well observed during four or five journeys on 

 the continent which are not more common in England, are perhaps 

 the Tithys redstart, which is very abundant in Baden and the upper 

 Rhine provinces, and the Alpine swift, which breeds in numbers in the 

 tower of the cathedral at Berne. But of course the chief obstruction 

 to one's ornithological observations on the continent — even greater 

 than the scarcity of objects — is the modern system of European tra- 

 velling, rail and steam ; stopping principally in towns, where one is 

 hardly likely to meet with novelties in natural history. 



The species marked with an asterisk have not been observed in the 

 British Isles. The names are generally those of the British Museum 

 Catalogue. 



Falco peregrinus. One specimen was sold in the Roman market 

 during my stay in Rome. 



Tinnunculus alaudarius, Accipiter Nisus. Both common. I did 

 not see the South European kestril (Tinnunculus cenchris) myself, 

 but I was informed that it might be occasionally found in the market 

 on a Sunday morning, when the peasants come in from the campagna, 

 and on which day the supply of birds is most abundant. The kestril 

 inhabits the city of Cremona, in Lombardy. I saw several when on 

 the celebrated tower of Cremona, hovering over the city, where I sup- 

 pose they feed on the insects and mice. 



Milvus austriacus,* (Gm.) G. B. Eur. i. A common bird in the 

 Campagna di Roma. 



Turdus merula, T. viscivorus, T. pilaris, T. iliacus. Tordi are par- 

 ticularly appreciated by the Italians as by their progenitors. " Obeso 



* The usually employed specific name regalis having only Brisson's authority 

 'who was no binomialist), must, according to my ideas, give place to Gmelin's 

 ' austriacus." 



