Ornithology of the Var ^c. 399 



inhabitants of some of the valleys in the Hautes Alpes have 

 actually domesticated T. tetrix to a certain extent. T. bonasia 

 was served at the hotel once or twice while we were there. 



Andalusian Hemipode. Turn'ix sylvaticu. 



Included in Jaubert^s 'List,' but no occurrences sjiecified. 

 Mr. Howard Saunders doubts its having been really met 

 with in France in a w^ld state^ and its inclusion in the 

 British List is equally open to question. Count Salvadori 

 records one seen in the market at Nice^ but that may have 

 come from Algeria, where, however, I did not find it common. 



Spotted Crake. Porzana maruetia. 



As the "Hale marouette'^ is rather rare in Algeria, it is 

 surprising that it should be so common in the South of 

 France. It must be very abundant somewhere near Grasse, 

 as during March there were always a few in the market, and 

 on March 27th no less than 31 at one stall. Pellicot says 

 that at Frejus these birds are called '' Marsenquo,^' from their 

 appearing in that month, and that hundreds have been killed 

 by a single gun in the course of a migration, there being 

 generally two or three great days of passage in spring. 

 March is a month one associates with P. maruetta in England, 

 when, no doubt, some of the migrants which we receive are 

 the same which have escaped the French '^ chasseurs,^^ who 

 appear particularly partial to this palatable Rail. 



MooR-HEN. Gallinula chloropus. 



The '' Jardiniero " arrives in autumn, departs in spring 

 (Jaubert). Porzana parva and P. bailloni are included in 

 the same list, and the former is also especially mentioned by 

 Risso; but though I carefully looked out for them in the 

 market, I could not see one. Degland and Gerbe state that 

 they examined a Purple Porphyrio which was killed at Trans, 

 a town in the Var. 



Corn-crake. Crex pratensis. 



Gould (B. of Gt. Br.) cites an instance of several speci- 

 mens being captured on a ship in the Mediterranean in 

 October, which had probably left the South of France a few 



