398 Mr. J. H. Guniey on the 



account of the Wren, M. Pellicot saw some fishing-boats 

 come ashore with ten small sharks ['' Cagnoose/^ probably 

 Alopecias) ; these voracious creatures were opened in his 

 presence, and contained from eight to ten Quails each, which 

 they had no doubt found floating. Quails are especially liable 

 to misadventure, but the remains of various small birds, 

 and even Owls *, are also to be picked up on the shore near 

 Saint Raphael. 



In autumn the return passage, according to Pellicot, is 

 generally between the 15th of September and the 10th of 

 October, and, considering the hosts of its enemies, it is not 

 to be wondered at that the Quail is decreasing throughout 

 the whole of France. In Norfolk it used to be abundant, 

 but it seems absurd to seek for the cause of its diminution 

 in agricultural changes in England, when the annual 

 massacre which goes on in the south of Europe is enough to 

 account for it. The bird's habits of concealment are very 

 great, and in confinement it creeps into moss like a mouse. 

 In Egypt I have seen^ more than once, a small crop of lentils, 

 which at first sight did not seem to hold a single specimen, 

 prove full of them, forty or fifty brace, perhaps, getting up 

 out of a patch 60 feet square. 



Black Grouse. Tetrao tetrix. 



T. tetrix, T. bonasia, and Lago[)US matas occur on the 

 mountains in the Alpes Maritimes^ but it can only be oc- 

 casionally that their wanderings extend to the Var. The 

 authors of ' Les Richesses Ornithologiques ' say that the 



* Here it wiJl uot be inappropriate to quote a letter, written by Mr. J. 

 S. Walker on board the yacht 'Aline': — "Ever since we left Tunis, all 

 along the Malta Channel and upwards to Italy, the sea was covered 

 everywhere with numbers of large brown butterflies, moths of all sizes, 

 and dragon-flies just dead; for four or five days we sailed across many 

 miles of water -without linding any dimimilion in their numbers * * * * 

 but what interested us more was the number of dead birds Ave passed, 

 among which we recognised Hoopoes, Quails, Wheatears, and Kestrels." 

 ('The Field,' April 12th, 1873.) Although so many drowned birds were 

 seen, Mr. Walker adds that the number of live examples which passed 

 the vessel was comparatively small. Quails are sometimes taken at the 

 Camavat lighthouse, aud they have been known to fly against boats 

 drawn up on the shore. 



