Ormthology of the Var ^c. 391 



eyries. Duval- Joiive noticed that the travels of most of the 

 birds of prey coincided with those of the smaller birds, and 

 particularly that F. thinuncidus liked to accompany Larks on 

 migration ^. 



Hobby. Falco subbuteo. 



A small Hawk which daslied over our garden was, I 

 guessed, F. subbuteo, which has been obtained at Cannes and 

 is not rare. F. cenchris is included in Jaubert^s list, along 

 with F. vespertinus (also met with at Nice by Lord Lilford), 

 and F. peregrinu& was identified by Mr. St. Quintin at Trayas 

 and also near Cannes. 



Buzzard. Buteo vulgat'is. 



One expects to see Buzzards in France, but my son and I 

 only viewed a few. It used to be possible to see fifty in a 

 day in Lorraine, and sometimes rich varieties ; but that was 

 thirty years ago, and they are now probably scarcer in all 

 parts of France. This is one of the seven Raptorial species 

 given as regular birds of passage by Duval-Jouve, the other 

 six being Perms opivcrus, Accipiter nisus, Falco ptregrinus, 

 F. subbuteo, F. tinminculus, and F. cesalon. The last, however, 

 according to Jaubert, sometimes nests here, as it is said to 

 do in the Pyrenees. 



Golden Eagle. Aquila chrysaetos. 



A large Eagle which had come down from the mountains 

 for food, and which a peasant at Valescure captured alive, 

 may have been A. chrysaetos. So may an Eagle which was 

 shot at Levens about last March, which I heard of after our 

 return, for no doubt the " Aigle fauve'^ still breeds in the 

 high ranges of the Basses Alpes. That partially albinistic 



* Migratory Hawks have been seen at sea by mauj- observers, the most 

 remarkable instance being an old one, viz. that given by the Rev. Henry 

 Teong, who in his ' Journal,' under date March 28th, 1G70, says " a cross 

 wind last night brought from the island of Cyprus an infinite number of 

 hawks " among the British fleet, of which he was at the time chaplain, 

 and at least fifty were taken on his ship. The author of ' Riviera Nature 

 Notes ' describes a great arrival of birds of prey at Nice, but this is quite 

 surpassed by what Bellonius tells us of Kites on migration in the ICth 

 century at the mouth of the Bosphorus. 



