Letters, Announcements, <5fc. 441 



birds come at the beginning of February, and stay till October or 

 November, He had often seen the Valcares white with them. 

 I took a long walk with him in the hope of seeing a bird ; but 

 no ; there was a mistral blowing, and on such occasions they 

 remain out in the lake. I saw several hundred Ducks, a Heron, 

 a Curlew, some Sandpipers, and innumerable Lapwings and Sea- 

 gulls, but no Flamingo ! 



Thence I was jolted back to Aries over the worst road that 

 ever carriage was driven on, and sought out the gentleman I 

 had missed at his house. Him I found a very hearty good 

 fellow, fond of natural history, and disposed to help me in any 

 way. He told me that Flamingos still come in as great multi- 

 tudes as ever : they inhabit only Valcares, Fournelet, and Fara- 

 man — that is to say, about one- third of the lakes; and they never 

 did visit any others. They continue arriving all spring and 

 summer, and in August and September from one to two thou- 

 sand are on the lakes. In October they mostly leave.; but a 

 few sti'agglers stay throughout the winter. They are now 

 much more persecuted than formerly. Twenty years ago there 

 were not more than fifteen chasseurs in Aries ; now there is a 

 couple of thousand, and the birds are wary and restless ; still 

 they are so abundant that their cries may be heard a mile off. 

 When he was a young fellow, about twenty years ago, he saw 

 some old nests on the sand-banks between Valcares and the sea, 

 which, he was told by an old fowler, belonged to Flamingos. 

 They were of sand heaped up, about two feet in diameter at the 

 base and about ten inches high, rapidly tapering, so that the 

 depression in which the eggs would be laid would not be more 

 than ten inches across *. He saw some twelve or fifteen nests 

 in the space of a mile or more. It was a tradition in those days 

 that young Flamingos used to be hunted on horseback ; but the 

 Camargue was not then what it is now. It was scarcely cul- 

 tivated ; there were no salt-pans, and there were very few chas- 

 seurs. His belief is that the birds will never build there again ; 

 but that eggs may be got every year, because females arrive 

 gravid, lay their egg anywhere, and leave it. He gave me some 

 other interesting particulars of the fauna of the Camargue, and 



* On this the hen sat, " Monsieur, comme sur une vase ! " 



