informed me. They were caught before 1848, and one which was brought alive and lived some time subsequently became so wild that it was found necessary to kill it. Count Camozzi added also that his illustrious father, Senator Camozzi, has seen this species on flight before 1848. The specimen preserved in Count Turati's collection at Milan, labelled as caught on the Alps of Lombardy in 1868, came instead from Switzerland, as I was assured by Signor Bonomi, whose father preserved and set up that grand bird.
Amongst the Aquilæ, the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaëtos) is not very rare; it breeds in some very high spots in these mountains, and it is not very seldom seen flying on the abovementioned Pizzo dei Tre Signori and Pizzo del Diavolo di Tenda, on Mount Cervo (7675 ft.), Mount Pegherolo (7221 ft.). Mount Pietra Quadra (6982 ft.), and in the mountains towards Como. Dr. Giacomelli told me that in the month of May last year he was offered two very young nestlings, taken from Cancerbero (4027 ft.), of the size of a full-grown fowl, for about one shilling each; they were almost totally covered with white down; but he refused to buy them, not knowing what to do with them. I have no local information about the other Italian Aquilinæ, but it seems that a specimen of the Lesser Spotted Eagle (A. maculata) was found dead, on May 1st of last year, by Dr. Giacomelli himself, on the north side of the Somnadello[1] sink-pit (4814 ft.); it had been, some days before, severely wounded on the back, and was then so decomposed that it was impossible to preserve it; its skull, however, compared with that of A. clanga appeared quite different from the latter, and belonging to the lesser form, which is more uncommon in Italy. The information about the White-tailed Eagle (Haliaëtus albicilla) is very uncertain and contradictory, and cannot be relied upon. The Short-toed Eagle (Circaëtus gallicus) and Osprey (Pandion haliaëtus) appear but very seldom.
Amongst the Buteoninæ, the Rough-legged Buzzard (Archibuteo lagopus) is very rare; it has appeared only on the most frigid days of severe winters, and I saw the remains of a specimen caught on Mount Azzarini (7307 ft.) in January, 1898. The
- ↑ Some people call it Sornadello, but the Guide of the C.A.J. and the military maps of the Geographical Institute of Florence name it as above.
