THE IBIS 



EIGHTH SERIES. 



No. III. JULY 1901. 



XXVIII. — On the Ornithology of the Var and the adjacent 

 Districts. By J. H. Gurney, F.Z.S. 



The Department of the Var, ia Southern France, so much 

 visited by our countrymen, is bounded on the north by the 

 Basses Alpes, on the east by the Alpes Maritimes, and on 

 the west by the ornithologically famous Bouches du Rhone. 

 Of these four Departments (formerly known as Provence) 

 the Var has the most southerly coast-line, which is 120 miles 

 in length and for the most part rocky, with many headlands 

 and several islands, as indicated on the accompanying map 

 (p. 362). By way of its shores thousands of migratory birds 

 probably make the land every spring, while other species, like 

 Grus communis, pass over them on their way to England and 

 Norway without halting, and a still greater number enter at 

 the Delta of the Rhone. No doubt a vast majority of these 

 travel by night, but Raptorial birds aud some large forms 

 besides are said to prefer the day. 



April is the great month for the vernal migration, and it 

 is just at that time, when Colonel Irby describes them in his 

 ' Ornithology of the Straits of Gibraltar ' as assembling in 

 vast numbers on the coast of North Africa for the northern 

 transit, that the small Passeres are to be seen arriving on 

 the coast of France. Once there, they do not always remain, 

 as might have been expected, and it frequently happened 

 during my stay that an interesting bird was noticed and 



SER. VIII. — VOL. I. 2 b 



