THE IBIS. 



SEVENIH SERIES. 



No. 11. APRIL 1895. 



XV. — On the Ornithology of the Delta of the Rhone. 

 By W. Eagle Clarke, F.L.S. 



The Delta of the Rhoue, not unfrequently called the 

 Camargue, is known to ornithologists, through the works 

 of Jaubert and Barthelemy-Lapommeraye *, and Crespon f, 

 as the haunt of a host of more or less rare and local marsh- 

 and water-birds, including such peculiarly interesting species 

 as the Flamingo, the Ibis, the Purple Gallinule, and Savi's 

 and the Aquatic Warblers. 



The reputation of the Camargue ornithologically, its 

 remarkable physical peculiarities, its seclusion, and the fact 

 that so few naturalists had visited its fastnesses, suggested 

 that it might prove a suitable field for investigation, so far as 

 it could be compassed within the short space of a month's 

 leave. Such a little ornithological excursion was undertaken 

 by the writer and his friend Mr. T. G. Laidlaw, M.B.O.U., 

 of Edinburgh, during May 1894, with the results now to be 

 recorded. 



This contribution may be said to consist of two sections. 

 In the one is given a short sketch of the physical peculiarities 



* ' Richesses ornithologiques du midi de la France ' (1859). 

 t * Faune meridionale . . . du midi de la France ' (1844). 



SER VIl. VOL. I. O 



