Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 5 (1901).djvu/36

14 common. Both are resident and breeding. The Jay (Garrulus glandarius) and the Magpie are common and resident, and so is the Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes), which is perhaps not very abundant, and which lives particularly in the thickest woods.

The Turtle-Dove (Turtur communis) is a summer visitor, but not very frequent; it breeds. The same may be said about the Wild Pigeons which are sometimes met with during the passages, but they are somewhat scarce, and I do not know whether they breed or not.

Pallas's Sand Grouse (Syrrhaptes paradoxus) seems to have appeared once in the last incursion of 1888; this information was given me by Dr. Giacomelli. The Common Ptarmigan (Lagopus mutus, v. Roncàs) and the Black Grouse (Tetrao tetrix) are fairly common, resident, and breeding on the highest mountains, as Cancerbero Aralalta, Cà S. Marco, &c. The former is sold in the market for about four shillings each, the latter for twenty shillings a couple, if they are male and female, and less if they are not. The Hazel Grouse (Bonasa betulina, v. Francolì) and the Capercaille (Urogallus vulgaris) seem to have disappeared from Brembana Valley; the former is now only seldom met in the mountains of the Seriana Valley, where it confines with Cavallina; the latter in those of the Valley of Scalve; but they are uncommon birds, perhaps almost extinct. All these gallinaceous birds are greatly persecuted by birdcatchers, in every way and at all seasons, so they decrease perceptibly every year. The Quail (Coturnix communis) is not a common bird in the Brembana Valley, strictly speaking, but it is met with and sometimes breeds in the lower parts of it, in corn-fields or meadows of trefoil (Dr. Giacomelli). Fairly common, however, are Partridges (Perdix cinerea, v. Pernìs), and especially Greek Partridges (Caccabis saxatilis, v. Cotùrna). The latter is found in many places—Cancerbero, Somnadello, Castello Regina (1424 ft.), Cà S. Marco, &c. To give an idea of its frequency, I may mention that Sign. Pianeti, from Camerata Cornello, a most celebrated hunter and shooter, kills from one hundred to one hundred and thirty of them every year in two months' shooting. They cost, on the market, from eighteenpence to two shillings each, according to the weight; very old specimens weigh about two pounds,