Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 5 (1901).djvu/25

Rh amongst the valleys of Bergamo. It extends toward the north to Valtellina, to the west with Valsassina, and to the east with Seriana, like the latter being directed from north to south; and finally it ends in the open plain a few miles from Bergamo. It occupies about 774 square kilometres, and has a population of some 40,000 inhabitants. In its inferior part the river Brembo runs through a rather narrow depression, which at certain points is nothing but a defile, but it receives some important streams, such as Serina and Parina on the left, and Brembilla and Taleggio on the right. Where it meets the open plain it is swollen by the Imagna, which at first washes the Imagna Valley. Beyond Piazza the river divides into two branches, which are called Brembo of Val Fondra on the east, and Brembo of Val Mezzoldo on the west. Further on the basin of the river becomes distinctly enlarged, while these branches are again divided. The first forms the Valsecca, the Glen of Carona, and those of Foppolo; and the other the Valtorta, the Mora Glen, and the Mezzoldo Glen properly named. Spreading itself here and there towards the north, the Brembo receives, for a tract of thirty kilometres, the waters of the principal Orobica ridge from the Pizzo del Diavolo di Tenda (8882 ft. ) to the Pizzo dei Tre Signori (7773 ft.). In this system we also observe Mount Aga (8285 ft.), Mount Masoni (8150 ft.), and Corno Stella (7983 ft.), well known for the splendid panorama that can be seen from its summit. Other important summits are the Zuc di Cam (6714 ft.), and a part of the Resegone (5716 ft.), Pizzo Torretta (8150 ft.), Cima di Becco (7654 ft.), Mount Spondone (7468 ft.), Mount Aralalta (6112 ft.), and very many more.

In the Brembana Valley and its mountains small resident birds do not greatly abound; one may walk about all day long without finding a single example; but during the migrations birds are very common, and then there are flocks of a hundred specimens and more. Gallinaceous birds are, as I shall say further on, tolerably abundant on the suitable localities. Many mountainous passes or other fit spots are covered with nets, traps, and different kinds of devices, amongst them the best known and productive being the "Roccolo," of which the most famous in the Brembana Valley are the following:—Roccolo