Ornithology of the Var S^c. 395 



Long-tailed Duck. Harelda glacialis. 



Was obtained^ as the authors of ' Les Richesses Oruitho- 

 logiques' inform us, two or three times near Hyferes by that 

 successful collector, M. Besson. 



Red-ckestei) Pochard. FuUgula rvfina. 



F. rnfina and Mergvs merganser, both considered " very 

 rare " b}' Jaubert, were met with by Lord Lilford in Cannes 

 market, but had perhaps come from the Etang Consecaniere, 

 where Mr. Clarke found the former common, and on his 

 spring visit discovered a nest. The Fuligula intennedia of 

 Jaubert is the hybrid which in England has been designated 

 "Paget's Pochard," after the celebrated Norfolk surgeon^ 

 and of which I have an example alive; this cross between 

 F. ferina, which is common in Provence, and F. nyroca, 

 is certainly the least rare hybrid among the European 

 Anatidse, in a wild state. Several examples are described by 

 Suchetet. 



Scoter. (Edemia nigra. 



Either (E. nigra or (E. fnsca, probably the former, comes 

 at times to St. Raphael's Bay, and in large quantities if the 

 boatmen^s tales are to be believed ; while I have had 

 (E. fusca from Genoa. These Scoters are confounded by 

 French sportsmen with Fulica atra, both, according to the 

 authors of ' Les Richesses Ornithologiques,' being called 

 '' Macreuses " ; and this led Yarrell into ascribing to (E. nigra 

 the Coot battues at the mouth of the Rhone, of which Pcl- 

 licot gives a good account. 



Turtle-Dove. Turiur communis. 



T. communis is stated to come in March, but we did not 

 see any until May, which agrees with the time of their arrival 

 in England. I was told that there were English Wood- 

 Pigeons (Ramiers) to be shot in winter, but did not hear 

 that they were netted as in some other Departments. 

 Jaubert also includes Columba cenas, which I have seen 

 in other districts, but not in the Var. All these species 

 are found in North Africa, which has so much in common 

 with the South of France. 



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