of the Central Pyrenees. 79 



in the Vallc de Ara was very like tlie note of this species, but 

 I could get no view of the birds, 



G5. CucuLUS cANORus, Linn. 



The Cuckoo is common on both sides of the central range 

 up to the timber-line. 



66. Gyps fulvus (Gmel.). 



The Griffon is the Vulture of the Central Pyrenees, but I 

 do not think it is much in evidence among the foot-hills and 

 forests, though I fancy that it would turn up quickly enough 

 if carrion in any quantity were exposed. When, from some 

 cause or other — a landslip, I fancy, — about a dozen goats 

 perished in the Valle de Brada this spring, the " Aigles " 

 came in force to the funeral, a native estimating their number 

 at about 70, and a week later I saw no reason to doubt the 

 truth of his account. 



West of Gavarnie a glen runs up under the cliffs of 

 Secugnac, Avhich are very lofty and steep ; the last 300 feet 

 overhanging. In these cliffs are sundry vertical fissures, 

 which I was assured were breeding-places of " les Vautours ;" 

 and my informant, Celestin Passet, a well-known guide and 

 chasseur, is a very '' straight ^^ man, though not a naturalist. 

 We twice saw a pair of Griffons circling about this cliff, 

 sometimes following the ins and outs of its face at the level 

 of the fissures, at another time wheeling between us and the 

 foliage below, and displaying the snow-white ruff. I think 

 I saw a pair in the Valle de Ara, and at a fissured cliff above 

 Bucharo, just inside the Spanish frontier, and am sure of 

 others upon the Pic du Midi de Bigorre ; but by far the best 

 view I ever enjoyed of large birds of prey was among the 

 foot-hills of the central range at the head of the Val Campan 

 on June 21st. The grassy valley was full of sheep just 

 arrived from the lowlands, a dozen flocks of different breeds 

 and marks, all bleating and weary, with dogs and shepherds 

 at their heels. Something or other had died, and over the 

 carrion a lively dispute was going on. A Spanish Imperial 

 Eagle, three or four Bearded Vultures, a pair of Ravens, and 

 about a dozen Griffons were gobbling, scuffling, leaving, 

 arriving — such a scene ! The great birds that only a minute 



