506 Burleigh, Bird-life in Southwestern France. [oct,. 



externally with lichens. By the first of September the birds were seen in 

 small flocks, but a few were still singing. October 22 three were found 

 feeding at the edge of a field, and were the last seen for the year. 



44. Passer domesticus domesticus (L.). House Sparrow. 



45. Passer montanus montanus (L.). Tree Sparrow. — These 

 two species were found in the towns and about some of the farms, and were 

 plentiful and noisy wherever seen. They were much alike in appearance, 

 the latter differing from the former in having the white of the throat ex- 

 tending up and forming a collar on the lower part of the neck. They 

 appeared to associate indiscriminately, and one was about as much of a 

 nuisance as the other. 



46. Fringilla coelebs coelebs L. Chaffinch. — This species was 

 undoubtedly the most plentiful of any of those found in France. It was 

 resident, and although seen largely in the open cultivated country was of 

 common occurrence in the pine woods, feeding in the upper branches of 

 the larger trees. During the winter the birds wandered about in small 

 flocks, and although never scarce they became unusually numerous dur- 

 ing late February and early March, when their numbers were probably 

 augmented by those which had wintered farther south. By the middle of 

 March they had begun to scatter out and were soon seen commonly in 

 pairs. On the 17th of March the first bird was heard singing. The song 

 was a rapid, rich warble, reminding me much of our Vesper Sparrow, but 

 fuller and clearer. On April 21 a female was seen gathering bits of wool 

 from the side of a road, and on May 12 the first nest was found. This, 

 like all the others later seen, was made of green moss, lined with soft grasses, 

 feathers, and horsehair, and well covered externally with lichens. 1 1 held 

 four fresh eggs and was fifteen feet from the ground, in a crotch against the 

 trunk of a large cork oak at the side of a road. The eggs were bluish gray- 

 clouded at the larger end with lilac, and sparingly spotted with brown. 

 Another nest found the same day held three slightly incubated eggs, and 

 was twenty-five feet from the ground, at the outer end of a limb of a large 

 cork oak at the side of a road. A third nest, the 19th of May, held four 

 slightly incubated eggs and was eight feet from the ground, in a crotch of 

 a small maritime pine at the edge of some underbrush bordering a road. 

 The last nest found the 7th of July, with four slightly incubated eggs, was 

 thirty feet from the ground, at the outer end of a limb of a large sycamore 

 at the side of a road. Toward the end of July the birds were gathering 

 into small flocks again and soon few individual birds could be seen. On 

 October 6 a flock of fully five hundred of these birds was found feeding at 

 the edge of a large millet field. 



47. Pyrrhula pyrrhula europaea Vieill. Bullfinch. — This species, 

 one of the handsomest in France, was seen only during the fall migration, 

 but it was fairly plentiful then. The first bird was seen October 27, when 

 one adult male was found feeding in a thicket at the edge of a field. It was a 

 little timid, and on being approached flew away with a low, querulous note, 

 distinctive of this species alone. For the next two months these birds 



