Ornithology of the Var ^c. 405 



have not met with it so far north, only having seen it in the 

 south of Italy. 



Red-throated Diver. Colymbus septentrionalis. " Plon- 

 geon cat-marin/' 



A feather on the shore confirmed me in the opinion that 

 tvi'o large Diversj seen on a former visit, were C. septentrionalis ; 

 hut as Jaubert also includes ('. arcticns, I cannot be quite 

 sure. According to ' Les Richesses Ornithologiques ' the 

 latter is much the rarer of the two. 



Eared Grebe. Podicipes nigricollis. 



Five Grebes are included by Jaubert — P. cristatus, 

 P. griseigena, P. auritus, P. fluviatilis, and P. nigricollis; but 

 it appears that the last two alone can be called common, and 

 these only in winter. P. nigricollis I have seen at Gibraltar 

 in January, and Canon Tristram met with it in Algeria. 



Razorbill. Alca torda. 



Reported by St. Raphael hoatmen to be in considerable 

 numbers at the end of April, but we saw^ only one fine adult 

 and a young bird, Jaubert also includes Fratercula arctica 

 as occasionally seen by fishermen in July and August, and 

 Prof. Giglioli thinks it possible that both these species may 

 breed in the Mediterranean. Uria troile is much rarer, and 

 has not yet heen added to the Var list. 



Before concluding, I should like to devote a few words to 

 the migration of land-birds across the Mediterranean, which, 

 as has heen said, takes place almost entirely at night. If it 

 were by day, we should be astounded at the numbers, but, as 

 a matter of fact, what an ornithologist watching on the 

 coast of France sees is only a very small portion — and 

 that a belated portion — of the feathered pilgrims. Yet it 

 may he that a certain number of Kites, Buzzards, Kestrels, 

 Swallows, Wagtails, Hoopoes, Storks, and Cranes cross the 

 great sea by preference in the daytime. All birds are not 

 equally nocturnal, and there are indications that the above- 

 named are to some extent day-migrants ; but the majority of 



