76 Mr. H. M. Wallis on the Birds- 



were somewhat confiding, and as playful and adroit as 

 Choughs always are, descending the narrowest part of the 

 ahyss with one headlong plunge from the upper regions over 

 our heads, a dozen at a time, like a shower of meteorites. 

 There is another colony in a similar situation at the lower 

 end of the gorge just above Pierrefitte. On the Spanish side 

 I found the Red-billed Chough abundant among the aston- 

 ishing cliffs of the Valle de Ara. I did not find the spot or 

 spots where they breed, which is not surprising when one 

 reflects upon the 40 miles of cliffs which this and the adjoin- 

 ing valley can show, seldom less than 1000 feet, and frequently 

 3000 feet high, and abounding with every kind of cleft, 

 cranny, and cavern. 



The Alpine Chough is, for some reason, much commoner 

 in the Pyrenees than the Eed-billed species, which it overlaps 

 both in range and elevation. We found it in the Vallee 

 Valentin near Eaux-Bonnes and at the Col de Torte,at Argeles 

 and St. Sauveur, and the whole length of the Gave-de-Pau and 

 its tributary glens up to the Cirque de Gavarnie. A colony 

 in the cliffs of the Breche de Roland (9500 feet) was very 

 vociferous^ and when upon the summit of the Pic Perdu 

 (11,000 feet) I heard this bird crying overhead in the cloud. 

 There is a colony on the Pic du Midi de Bigorre. It seemed 

 equally common on the Spanish side ; mixed flocks of the two 

 species were seen daily in the Valle de Ara and elsewhere. 

 I noticed no racial antagonisms. 



Whilst upon a rough mountain-side above Gavarnie we 

 saw a Hawk or Falcon (perhaps male Peregrine) pursue and 

 clutch an Alpine Chough and descend with extended, wdngs, 

 parachute-Avise, gripping its shrieking prey. Tiie aggressor 

 was so nearly the same size as his victim that we had thought 

 the affair a I'omp of a pair of Choughs until the final grip. 



Whilst hunting for beetles I have had Choughs similarly 

 engaged walking within about twenty yards of me. They 

 are wary birds, but very inquisitive ; at the Wengern Alp 

 Hotel last year one entered the salon by one window, made 

 the tour of the room, perched upon the book-case, and left 

 by the other window, squawking. 



