Ornitholof/tj of the Var &^'c. 373 



earliest of all the birds of passage to ap^Dsar in numbers is 

 Phylloscopus frochilus, aocorapanied possibly by P. rafus and 

 P. bonelU. Hypolais pohjglotta may be common, but was 

 only twice identified. It is very difficult to make out the 

 small Warblers without shooting them. 



Reed-Warbler. Acrocephalus streperus. 



Jaubert says of A. streperus : ^' De passage, quelques 

 individus nichent dans nos marais " ; but it is not confined to 

 marshes, for even the little stream which passes through 

 St. Raphael is not too public for this " Rousserolle,'' in 

 spite of the houses on either side. It is curious, as remarked 

 by Howard Saunders, that Aedon galactodes should not have 

 occurred in France, but the allied A. familiaris , which is less 

 rufous, has been taken three times at Nice (Giglioli, Ibis, 

 1881, p. 199), where Lord Lilford also found Acrocephalus 

 aquaticus yerj common, and the latter should probably be 

 substituted in Jaubert's list for A. melanipojon. At Nice 

 also MM. Gal, the local taxidermists, are stated to have 

 obtained Locustella jiuviatUis, Carruca nisoria, and DauUus 

 philomela (see Ornis, 1899, p. 42). 



Alpine Accentor. Accentor coUaris. "Accenteur pegot." 

 We saw A. modularis, but it was only on a previous visit 

 that a single specimen of A. collaris was met with. Duval- 

 Jouve says that A. collaris never crosses the sea, as A. 

 modularis does, and Pellicot says that he has seen the latter 

 at sea. The Alpine Accentor is a mountain bird not likely 

 to be met with in the cultivated valleys ; the masonry of a 

 fort would be more congenial to it, and in such a situation I 

 have watched it elsewhere. 



Dipper. Cinclus aquaticus. 



Only three or four Water-Ouzels {Merle d'eau or Cincle 

 plongeur) were seen, rejoicing in the mountain-torrent of 

 the Loup, a stream on which they probably remain all 

 the year, only quitting it when frozen out. Prof. Giglioli 

 says that they are sedentary in Italy. 



