THE IBIS. 



SEVENTH SERIES. 



No. XVI. OCTOBER 1898. 



XLI. — On the Ornithology of the Delta of the Rhone. 

 By Wm. Eagle Clarke, F.L.S. (Second Contribution.) 



During a visit to the Delta of the Rhone in May and the 

 early part of June 1894 {cf. Ibis, 1895, pp. 173-211), 

 Mr. T. G. Laidlaw and I were much impressed with the 

 number of birds of passage — most of them of species breeding 

 in the high north — which, in spite of the lateness of the 

 season, lingered on the margins of the lagoons and etangs 

 bordering the Mediterranean. This evidence of migratory 

 movements of considerable importance and interest, as well 

 as the fact that the Rhone Valley is recognized to be a much- 

 traversed route, suggested to us the desirableness of an autumn 

 visit for the purpose of witnessing the phenomenon of 

 migration at a season more favourable for its observation. 

 "With this end in view we spent some weeks in September 

 1896 in making observations in the vast areas of waste and 

 lagoon, marsh and etang of the Camargue, on the margin 

 of the two Rhones, and on the shores of the Mediterranean — 

 which latter form the base of the Delta. During these in- 

 vestigations, we not only obtained much information bearing 

 upon the main object of our visit, but we also added consi- 

 derably to our former personal knowledge of the avifauna 

 of the region, and made some further notes on a few of 

 the more interesting species which haunt these singular 

 solitudes. 



BiSR. VII. VOL. IV. 2 K 



