348 
Mr. Joseph I. S. Whitaker on the 
which it was signalled, the news having been communicated 
by a telegram from Portoferraio to a leading Roman news¬ 
paper,—it would appear from articles published by Prof. 
Giacomo Damiani in f Avicula/ and in a local newspaper, 
that the incursion was noticeable throughout the entire 
island, commencing early in July and continuing throughout 
that month, although constantly and rapidly diminishing in 
intensity. Prof. Damiani adds that a good many of the 
birds reappeared about the middle of August, disappearing 
again shortly afterwards. He further states that it was 
twenty years since the species had been first observed by him 
in Elba, and that he had never known anything to equal last 
year's invasion. 
From Corsica I have received no information on the subject, 
but there can be little doubt that the invasion extended to 
that island. 
In Sardinia, according to information received from Sig. 
P. Bonomi and other correspondents, large numbers of 
Crossbills were observed in various parts of the island, and 
particularly in the vicinity of Cagliari, during the summer 
and autumn, and even as late as the month of October. 
On the island of Capri, from information given me when 
passing through Naples in July last, I ascertained that con¬ 
siderable numbers of the species had been seen during the 
first fortnight of that month. According to more recent 
information received by Signorina Picchi, of Florence, the 
species reappeared on the island of Capri in large numbers 
in the month of August, but did not remain there long, which 
is not surprising, considering the lack of trees on the island 
and the persecution which the birds meet witli there at the 
hands of the natives. 
In Sicily the Crossbill invasion was very noticeable in 
various districts, and more especially in the north-western 
portion of the island. Although numerically it was perhaps 
less important than in some more northern countries, there 
can be no doubt that a very large number of the birds reached 
this southern latitude, and what is also very noteworthy is 
that many of the birds continued to be observed in the 
