66 Mr. H. M. Wallis on the Birds 



ou both sides of tlie frontier. I could never get sufficientlj'- 

 good views to decide whether it was the pale-breasted form 

 or not. 



7. Saxicola (enanthe (Linn.). 



Wheatears abound in the Pyrenees between the snow-line 

 and timber-line ; I found eggs above Gavarnie on June 16th. 



On the stony side of the Pic de Gez, above Argeltis^ I saw 

 some kind of Wheatear which I cannot name; the male was 

 many shades darker than S. mnanthe, his back and head being 

 a deep electric blue. His mate might have passed for a 

 female o£ the common species^ but showed more russet. 



8. Pratincola rubetra (Linn.). 



Whinchats haunt the meadows below Arrens, in the Vallee 

 d'Azun, and also at Bagneres-de-Bigorre^ where the grassy 

 country they like runs up into the hills. The Pyrenean 

 Whinchat is so brilliantly coloured that to English eyes it 

 hardly seems the same species as our island form. 



9. Pratincola rubicola (Linn.). 



I saw the Stonechat near Eaux-Bonnes. 



10. RuTiciLLA PHffiNicuRUS (Linn.). 



A single male Redstart^ apparently anxious for the safety 

 of his nestj was flitting about a barn near Arrens on May 

 28th, about 2800 feet above sea-level. 



11. RUTICILLA TITYS (Scop.). 



Black Redstarts are abundant among the mountains at all 

 elevations, from the chimney-tops of Argcles and Bagneres- 

 de-Bigorre, which are on low ground, to the snow-line. I 

 saw pairs playing about little rocky outcrops near the Breche 

 de Roland, and others among the Observatory buildings upon 

 the summit of the Pic du Midi de Bigorre, 9440 feet. We 

 found its nest, sometimes as bulky as a Blackbird^s, sometimes 

 half the size, in the most varied situations : on a beam in 

 the roof of a staircase having doors above and below ; in the 

 wall of a milking-hut ; inside a herd-boy's shelter; and ou 

 ledges left by the blasting charges along the high road. 



