Ornithology of the Var &^c. 393 



Lammergeier. Gypaetns barbatus. 



Roux cites a capture in the Esterel Mountains, and there 

 is in the Norwich Museum a well-preserved adult bird killed 

 in the Magna Valley (Alpes Maritimes) many years ago, 

 which has the whitest head and is probably the oldest of any 

 of our series in the Museum. 



Cormorant. Phalacrocorax sp. inc. 



April 30th_, an adult vigorously flapping itself in the sea. 

 Jaubert does not include P. graculus. Neither "Wharton 

 nor Whitehead give P. carbo as a bird of Corsica, but they 

 say that P. graculus is fairly common there, so I will not be 

 certain which it was that I saw off St. Raphael, as Corsica 

 and Provence have a good deal in common. 



Pelican. Pelecanus onocrotalus. 



The authors of ' Les Richesses Ornithologiques ' are of 

 opinion that the Pelican was formerly common ; it is now a 

 very rare straggler, but has been once met with and knocked 

 on the head at Hyeres. 



Stork. Ciconia alba. 



A *^ Cigogne^^ was seen passing over Lord Amherst's villa 

 on April 20th, and I received one from near Nice. Ternier 

 calls this species very rare in the Var, adding that it prefers 

 an east wind both in spring and autumn, and that its migra- 

 tions are very difPerent from those of Grus communis (Ornis, 

 1899, p. 218). 



Heron. Ardea cinerea. 



The " Heron cendre " is by no means rare, but very fe^v 

 Heronries now exist in France. The African A. atricollis — 

 a bird which might l)e expected to occur occasionally — has 

 been taken at Draguignau (Revue Zool. 1854, vi. p. 6), and 

 we learn from Pellicot that another southern species, the Buff- 

 backed Heron, has been met with at Toulon. A Night-Heien 

 was contained in the collection received by me from Nice. 



Little Bittern. Ardetta minuta. 



One found in the courtyard of a house in Nice. Neither 

 A. minuta nor Bot aunts stellaris breed in the Var ; the 



SER. VIII. VOL. I. 2d 



