of the Delta of the Rhone. 179 



Harriers flourish exceedingly in the Camargue, for they have 

 no enemies^ and they make sad havoc among brooding birds 

 and their young. No ground-nesting bird is safe from the 

 fox, which was observed quartering the ground systematically, 

 during the daytime, on several occasions. On this account 

 many species of birds retire almost entirely to the islands to 

 rear their broods. 



In the arid saline region of the south, waste and water 

 reign supreme; and thus it may be conveniently sub- 

 divided for our purposes into two sections, namely, lagoons 

 and wastes. These together occupy a broad belt reaching 

 to the Mediterranean, and cover quite one-third of the total 

 area of the Delta, or over 100 square miles. 



One of the most singular physical peculiarities of the 

 Camargue is the extraordinary number and nature of the 

 etangs, perhaps more appropriately termed lagoons, which 

 form such a remarkable feature in its geography. They are 

 great shallow pools of clear salt water whose shores 

 are destitute of vegetation of any description. The largest 

 of these lagoons is the Etang du Valcares, the area of which 

 varies, according to "^authorities," from 10 to 30 square 

 miles ; but a careful computation, based upon the official 

 map, places it at the happy medium, or about 20 square 

 miles. One of the many peculiarities of these lagoons is 

 their extreme and uniform shallowness. Thus Valcares is 

 probably nowhere, and at no season, more than 18 inches 

 deep ; and at the date of our visit it was not more than six 

 inches, and only one-half its normal area, owing to the extreme 

 dryness of the season. So great, indeed, had been the 

 drought that the lagoons shown on the map as lying imme- 

 diately to the south of Valcares, and between that etang and 

 the Mediterranean, Avere, in May 1894, sandy* deserts, 

 without a blade of vegetation, but sparkling under a white 

 efflorescence of salt, which in a few places was no less than 

 two inches in thickness and pure white in colour. The 

 dreariness of this area of dried-up lagoons was extreme, and 



* The saud is blowTi from the shores of the Mediterranean aud forms 

 a thiu carpet over a floor of particularly tenacious alluvium. 



