Ornithology of the Var i>^c. 401 



GiiEAT Bustard. Otis tarda. 



In 1871 I received an ^'Outarde barbae'^ (Provencal 

 '' Ooutardo ^^) from Nice^ which liad been shot on the 17th 

 of January, after the same severe weather which caused 

 a remarkable migration of the species into England and 

 Belgium [cf. ' Zoologist,' p. 2770). Pellicot alludes espe- 

 cially to this Siberian winter, when numerous flights of 

 Alauda arvensis, A arborea, A. calandra, &c. appeared on 

 the shore. I was in France at the time and remember it 

 well : the day before my Bustard was shot I had bought for 

 two sous a dead Buteo vulgaris frozen as stiff as a board ! 

 while the starved Kestrels sat in the trees as if they were 

 asleep, and gangs of famished Rooks searched the river^s 

 edge. In 1890 or 1891 a fine old male 0. tarda was shot 

 at Bocca on the coast, also, I believe, during snow. 



Little Bustakd. Otis tetrax. 



Jaubert calls the '' Canepetiere '' very rare, but I remember 

 having a good view of one in Department Gard, not far from 

 Nimes, the home of the naturalist Crespon. In Algeria 

 0. tetrax always went by the name of '' Poule de Carthage,^' 

 a name which Pellicot assigns to O^dicnetnus crepitans. The 

 latter is common in some pai'ts of France, as markets testify, 

 but is rare in the Var, which, from its hilly nature, is not 

 much adapted to such birds. An excellent book on the habits 

 and distribution of Bustards and Plovers in France has been 

 lately published by M. Lafourcade, including both of these 

 species, and a great deal of information about them. 



Collared Pratincole, Glareola pratincola. 



An interesting fact mentioned by Jaubert in his ' List ' 

 is that G. 2)ratincola has been known to nest on the shore 

 near Cannes, and one killed on the island of St. Honorat is 

 in the Cannes Museum. Mr. Clarke saw a few of these birds 

 at the mouth of the Grand Rhone. I think that they have 

 a great resemblance to the Terns in their flight and cry, 

 however far removed they may be from them in kinship. 



