346 
Mr. Joseph I. S. Whitaker on the 
says that lie had frequently known a shot fired at a party of 
these birds perched on a tree, and some of their number 
killed, without the survivors taking flight. What is still more 
surprising, however, he states that he once saw some Cross¬ 
bills feeding on a fir-tree which was being felled by the 
woodcutters, and that on the branch on which the birds were 
perched falling to the ground they followed it there and 
continued their meal, in no way disconcerted. 
In Liguria, according to Prof. Regalia, large numbers of 
Crossbills were observed during the month of September, 
and notably in the neighbourhood of Cornigliano and Sestri 
Ponente. Further west, and along the Italian Riviera, the 
species appears to have been abundant in the autumn, and 
even as late as the end of October. 
I am indebted to Signor Cesare Ragionieri, of Florence, for 
some interesting notes regarding the incursion of Crossbills 
in Tuscany and the Marche. The first arrivals in these 
provinces appear to have been noticed about the middle of 
July, and from that date onwards, until the end of August, 
the passage of the birds continued more or less plentifully. 
After that date it gradually decreased. 
In the neighbourhood of Leghorn and Pisa, and along the 
Maremmaua coast, Crossbills were observed in extraordinary 
numbers throughout a portion of the summer and until the 
beginning of October. 
Signor Ragionieri speaks of the arrival of the birds in the 
vicinity of Rimini, on the Adriatic coast, as being “ simply 
phenomenal/' and mentions the case of a local birdcatcher 
having snared no less than one thousand of them within the 
space of about a month ! Although in some parts of the 
country the close-time appears to have been respected, in 
many others it was unfortunately not so, and vast numbers 
of the poor birds consequently fell victims to the nets and 
traps set for them, their excessive tameness rendering their 
capture an easy matter. 
Signor Ragionieri himself frequently observed the Cross¬ 
bills arriving of a morning, in flocks of varying numbers, 
