Birds of the Pyrenees. 373 



it several times with extended wings basking like a butterfly ; 

 but it leaves the higher mountains in September, returning 

 in March. As bearing upon its two recorded visits to Eng- 

 land (which, however, in spite of their authorities, have not 

 obtained sufficient credence to procure its admission to the 

 B. O. U. List of British birds), I may remark that four or five 

 examples have been obtained at Nantes, in Lower Brittany, 

 several of them on the walls of the old Chateau, within a few 

 yards of the noise and bustle of crowded quays and steam 

 tramways. 



39. Troglodytes parvulus, Koch. 



The Common Wren is a familiar resident. 



40. MOTACILLA ALBA, LiuU. 



41. MoTACiLLA LUGUBRis, Tcmm. 



Both the White and the Pied Wagtails were observed at 

 St. Jean-de-Luz from December to the end of March, after 

 which they disappeared. Our bird was in full black plumage 

 in December, and was frequently to be seen strutting about 

 the road in proximity to its longer-tailed congener, the 

 White Wagtail, which was also in full pkimage. Judging 

 from the gradations of colour observed in fully adult speci- 

 mens, it is my impression that the two species interbreed ; 

 but the birds persistently frequented washing-places and high- 

 roads, where it was impossible to shoot, so that I did not 

 obtain a specimen. Their sudden departure took me by 

 surprise, for I had made up my mind to secure a Pied and 

 a White Wagtail which had apparently been paired for at 

 least a fortnight. There was a considerable arrival of Pied 

 Wagtails early in March. 



42. MOTACILLA MELANOPE, Pall. 



The Grey Wagtail is of general distribution, not merely on 

 the streams and brooks, but also on the flat land at the foot 

 of the mountains. At the baths of Dax, by the Adour, in 

 the Landes, a pair frequented the courtyard of the hotels 

 sometimes entering the open windows of the corridors in 

 search of flies with the utmost familiarity. 



