236 Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, fyc. 
some fishy substance, not distinguishable. This species has been 
killed several times in Norfolk, but not, I believe, since 1849. 
The present example was shot on some brackish waters, which 
on Salthouse beach run parallel with the sea-banks, and, to use 
the expression of the beachman who sent it me, “ appeared to be 
walking on the water.” 
Yours, &c., 
H. Stevenson. 
To the Editor of‘ The Ibis / 
Porto S. Giorgio (Italy), November 25, 1862. 
Sir, —Heading in ‘The Ibis 3 your repeated invitations to 
naturalists of all countries to second your endeavours by contri¬ 
buting to the pages of ‘ The Ibis 3 articles and information of 
every sort relating to ornithology, I have determined to send you 
some observations which I think very singular, and not unworthy 
of the readers of ‘ The Ibis/ 
Several years ago I went on a shooting expedition on the 
Apennines, in the province of Ascoli, and precisely on the eastern 
side of Mount Yetore, or Vittore, which is situated between the 
Mountain of the Sibilla on the north and Mount Como or Gran 
Sasso of Italy on the south. In the course of conversation with 
some sportsmen of the village called Pietrare, I was told that on 
the summits of Mount Vetore are found birds, called the Birds 
of Mount Yetore ( TJccelli di Vetore), which live in flocks, and of 
which, during the winter (when, on account of the great snow, 
they descend to the skirts), many are killed at one shot, and are 
very fat. They were (not very clearly) described to me as being 
a little larger than the Chaffinch ( Fringilla ccelehs), white, with 
the wings and the tail white and black, and with the claw of the 
hind toe rather long. Thence I inferred that the birds in ques¬ 
tion were the Snow Buntings ( Pledrophanes nivalis). At that 
time I was far from supposing that this bird inhabited perma¬ 
nently that locality. 
This year (1862), in the month of August, shooting on the 
same ground, I resolved to ascend to the summit of Mount 
Yetore (above the level of the sea 8400 Italian feet, or about 
