378 Mr. J. H. Gurney on the 



Tree-Creeper. Certhia familiaiis. 



The authors of Les Richesses Ornithologiqiies^ disthiguish 

 two Creepers, viz. C. familiaris and C. cusice, tlie latter a resi- 

 dent in the mountains and more highly coloured. I presume 

 that it was the former which I met with, as being near the 

 sea with other migrants I thought that it might have just 

 come over. C. costo' is perhaps identical with the Creeper 

 of Corsica (Ibis, 1885, p. 31) ; but^ according to Mr. Hartert 

 (Nov. Zool. iv. p. 139), this again is distinct from C brachy- 

 dacti/la, the form found at Lyons and common all over 

 Italy (Giglioli, Ibis, 1881, p. 194). Mr. Hartert's latest 

 views are given in Nov. Zool. vii. p. 525. 



Grey Wagtail. Motacilla melanope. 



It is rather surprising to find the " Bergeronnette jaune'' 

 so common in Provence, and also on the west coast of France, 

 and that not merely as a winter visitant, for a few stay to 

 breed on the Mediterranean, and I think that a pair nested 

 by the little St. Raphael stream. Authors have not realized 

 how abundant M. melanope is in the South of France. Mr. 

 Howard Saunders found it swarming in the Pyrenees (Ibis, 

 1897, p. 80) . 



Meadow-Pipit. Anthus pratensis. 



A. pratensis is to be seen in small numbers — also A. trivi- 

 alis as a spring migrant, — while an unidentified Pipit on the 

 Napoleon plateau may have been A. campestr'is. The other 

 Pipits mentioned by Jaubert are A. richardi (rare), A. cer- 

 vinus (very rare), and A. aquaticus (rather rare), none of 

 which came within the range of my binoculars, though I 

 have seen A. spipoletta [■= aquaticus) in Southern Piedmont. 



Golden Oriole. Oriolus galbula. 



French Loriot, from Lat. «wr6'o/i/s = golden. Local name, 

 also in allusion to the colour, Darin. It is the wont of these 

 gorgeous birds, which appear to be common in France up to 

 Paris, and were already paired on April 30th, to frequent 

 large leafy trees, where the yellow cocks look like oranges, 

 but are less conspicuous than one might expect, and more 

 quiescent than the less obtrusive hens. We have it on the 



