12 



soon after passing the frontier. Eounded cushions of Ulex Horrida, 

 the Spanish gorse, come into view^ and the large pale blue butter- 

 wort grows in wet and shady clefts. Here and there one comes 

 upon the rare Aphyllanthes thrusting a tough leafless stem 

 through the stony soil and carrying aloft its dark blue star with 

 gummy petals. The insects change also, instead of the two 

 swallow-tail butterflies {Machaon and Podalirius) , common on the 

 French side as elsewhere in central Europe, one comes at once 

 upon Papilin Feistkamelii, the dusky variety of Podalirius. The 

 rose-chafer burrowing amidst the pollen of the elderflower will 

 be of a slightly different shape and sculpturing to those common 

 north of the range. 



The bird life is the same on both sides as far as can be 

 noticed by a casual observer, and very few species will be seen which 

 have not at one time or other occurred in Great Britain. Many 

 that are unusual, rare or very rare, will be seen and that is one 

 of the joys of foreign travel. Befoi'e leaving Pau one sees 

 buzzards, kites of two species, the so-called " common," and the 

 misnamed "black," flap low over the waters of the shallow moun- 

 tain streams among the foot hills. Irby^s long-tailed tit shows its 

 pale scapulars among the foliage of the public gardens at Pau. 

 These species one leaves behind as one ascends. The Fire-Crest 

 and Crested Tit one sees higher up, the latter among the yew trees 

 near the frontier. The Red- Start one soon loses, but its first 

 cousin the Black Red-Start takes its place and is abundant up to 

 the edge of the snows. As in the Alps, the Tyrol, and elsewhere 

 this bird takes the place the robin occupies in England, the robin 

 among the Pyrenees is found in dense thickets or in Northern 

 Spain among the recesses of pine forests. 



Soon after leaving Pau the sparrow drops behind to be 

 replaced as street scavenger iu the mountain villages by the 

 Chafiinch and Yellow-Ammer. The cia bunting, a close congener 

 of the Yellow-Ammer, abounds in the hedgerows of the foot hills, 

 but does not enter the passes. In these a new set of birds 

 appear, the house martin replaces the swallow, the Gray Wagtail 

 {Boarula) takes the place of Alba. The green finch (Ghloris) drops 

 out, although the Bullfinch persists, but as we get higher it too is 

 left behind, and the tiny Serin Finch alone remains, and when on 

 the Spanish side that also is missing one is grateful for the song 

 of the Citril, a bird very much like our Siskin, almost confined to 

 the pine regions of mountainous Europe south of the North Sea. 



One soon loses the rook and jackdaw, the carrion crow, jay, 

 and magpie go to the edge of the timber line. Above that one 



