Lettei^Sy Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, 8^c. 233 



yellowish brown ; hind claw slightly curved, about equal in 



length to the toe. Runs along the ground, never taking a long 



flight ; inhabits the cliffs and fields near the sea, and the terras ; 



utters a low note. 



Yours, &c., 



E. V. Harcourt. 



To the Editor of ' The Ibis.' 



Sir, — On arriving at Mentone about the middle of last 

 December, I set myself to watch the habits of the Rock-Martins 

 {Hirundo rupestris), the presence of which during the winter in 

 this sunny spot my brother has already noticed. My father and 

 I often paid early visits to the rock-caves in which they passed 

 the night, and watched their proceedings at their toilet, and I 

 have compiled the following account from our notes taken on 

 the spot. 



All travellers along the Cornice Road between Nice and 

 Genoa must remember the Pont St. Louis, the present frontier 

 of France. This bridge is thrown over a magnificent gorge, 

 the great limestone-rocks of which absorb during the daytime a 

 great amount of heat ; so that long after the sun has set, and even 

 in the early morning before he has risen, they radiate heat to such 

 an extent as to make their neighbourhood exceptionally warm. 

 Under the shelter of these cliffs the lemon-tree appears to flourish 

 best, and along their steep sides the Martins may generally be 

 seen flitting rapidly to and fro in the daytime, while in some of 

 the caves with which these rocks are honeycombed they pass 

 the night. The places they choose are rather shallow hollows 

 or fissures in the rock, facing southwards. On cold cloudy days 

 they often return to their caves at intervals during the daytime, 

 and in very bad weather some of them will even pass a consider- 

 able portion of the day in their roosting-places. During the 

 night they huddle together in the inner recesses of their caves ; 

 but as soon as the morning light is tolerably advanced, they 

 move out towards the outer parts of the cave, and sit there on 

 ledges of rock preening their feathers, and occasionally flying out 

 a short way to ascertain the temperature of the morning ; often 

 too, and that quite early, some will fly out to visit their com- 



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