GO THE ZOOLOGIST. 



the only further thing of interest which we saw in our homeward 

 journey. 



Nov. 17th. Walked to the neighbouring lake of Zug, and saw 

 a Dipper, Cinclus albicollis, which appeared extraordinarily pale, 

 the head being almost fawn-coloured. There were numbers of 

 Magpies and Jays about. In the evening some more Choughs 

 flew across the Lake of Lucerne in the same direction and at 

 about the same hour as the flock seen on the 14th. 



Nov. 18th. Left Lucerne for Milan. 



Nov. 19th. At Milan all the Sparrows had changed, Passer 

 italics taking the place of P, domesticus. The males of the former 

 species, in their winter dress, bear a close resemblance to our 

 bird, for the feathers on the chocolate crown are then edged with 

 grey. The poulterers' shops contained a number of small birds, 

 chiefly Larks, Yellowhammers, Robins, and Sparrows, with a few 

 Landrail, Mallard, Teal, and Wigeon. In the Museum there are 

 a good many groups of Lombardy species, with nests and eggs, 

 including the Great Reed Warbler, Lesser Grey Shrike, Wood- 

 chat, Little Bittern, and Scops Owl. 



On Nov. 20th I went to the shop of the chief naturalist in the 

 town, and saw two Italian Sparrows, one of which had the whole 

 of that portion of the breast and throat which is normally black 

 of a fine bright chestnut, and the second bird also had a certain 

 amount of the same colour on the chest. A corresponding vari- 

 ation is not uncommonly exhibited by our English Sparrow, but I 

 have only once seen it as pronounced as in the case of the first of 

 these Milanese specimens, and that was last year in a bird on 

 the railings in front of Lancaster Gate in the Bayswater Road. 

 Passer domesticus was unknown to the naturalist here ; and with 

 the exception of a doubtful bird at Venice, which I could not 

 with certainty identify, all the Sparrows I saw in Italy belonged 

 to the Italian form. At Nice on the west and Trieste on the east, 

 its place is said to be taken by P. domesticus (see Giglioli, ' Avi- 

 fauna Italica,' p. 26), while the Alps form a good natural boundary 

 on the north, and I believe it has rarely been observed further in 

 that direction than the Brenner Pass. In the summer of 1886, 

 however, I found both forms at Schuls ; and this place, though 

 actually a few miles south-west of the Brenner, may be considered 

 as geographically further north, for it is situated at the upper end 

 of the Valley of the Inn which flows northwards into the plain of 



