350 Mr. Joseph I. S. Whitaker on the 
In September they were absent, or, at any rate, I have no 
note of any having been met with in Sicily during that month. 
In October, however, they were again observed in consider¬ 
able numbers near Palermo, several of the birds having been 
seen in my garden between the 15th and 20th of that month. 
No examples of the species having been observed in the 
month of November, and the invasion having naturally been 
supposed to have ended, it was somewhat of a surprise to 
hear of fresh arrivals of Crossbills near Palermo towards 
the end of December. According to information recently 
received, I learn that a few Crossbills were seen in my 
garden at the Villa Malfitano on the 29th of December, and 
again on the 1st of January, and that several individuals of 
the species had been observed, and examples obtained, in the 
vicinity of Villa G razia, near Palermo, on the 3rd of January, 
1910. 
Among the number of Crossbills which have been shot or 
captured in Sicily during the recent invasion, so far as I am 
aware, there have been none belonging to the Two-barred 
species, L. bifasciata , or to any but the common form of 
L. curvirostra. 
On the small island of Ustica, about forty miles to the 
north of Sicily, Crossbills were observed in July. 
On the island of Favigrana, one of the group of the 
AEgades, lying off the north-western corner of Sicily, large 
numbers of Crossbills were reported as having been seen on 
the 10th of July, and two examples of the species were sent 
to me from that island a day or two afterwards. In August 
the Crossbills appear to have again visited Favigrana in 
considerable numbers. 
Of the occurrence of the species in the island of Malta I 
have received the following interesting particulars from 
Mr. Henry Twelves :—“ About the 9th of July last Crossbills 
appeared in flights of about ten or fifteen each, and were 
abundant for about a week on the north and east sides of the 
island. They subsequently collected wherever pine-trees were 
to be found. Many were trapped, some very young, and very 
few males in full red plumage. Towards the end of August 
