Birds of the Pyrenees. 67 



Cevennes. Heavy storms of rain, with biting wind, checked 

 our progress, and we did not get to the forest. Along the 

 river Crag-Martins were numerous ; a Sparrow-IIawk dashed 

 across the road and just missed his bird ; Grey Wagtails 

 were conspicuous, and the White Wagtail was not uncommon ; 

 a pair of Pied Flycatchers were watched; Linnets of the 

 brightest colour swarmed, and the Nightingales sang bravely 

 in defiance of wind and rain. In the course of the day we 

 thrice saw Ravens, evidently taking food to their young in 

 some crags in the defile of the Pierre-Lis. Along this gorge, 

 through a tunnel known as the Trnu du Cure, after its 

 worthy originator, the Abbe Amand, we penetrated for some 

 miles in the direction of the Baths of Carcaniercs by a mag- 

 nificent road, parallel to which the railway is being pushed 

 on. This highly picturesque route has been opened to Mont 

 Louis (about 45 miles) only since 1887, and it was with 

 great regret that we renounced our intention of passing 

 through it, for it traverses the Capcir — the finest forest- 

 district of the Eastern Pyrenees. Our landlord, however, 

 dissuaded us, in spite of his obvious interest being to let his 

 vehicle or horses, and he positively refused to post us beyond 

 Carcanieres under the state of the weather, adding that we 

 should probably get no further and would have to return. 

 Considering that Mont Louis is the highest (nearly 5000 

 feet) and the coldcf^t garrison-town in all France, even in 

 summer, it would have been rash to go on in such weather; 

 but this second check was doubly severe, because Mont Louis 

 is exceptionally well situated, standing, as it does, near the 

 head of the river Tet, which runs down to Perpignan, passing 

 Prades and the Vernet side of Mount Canigou ; while, in the 

 opposite direction, Bourg-Madame and Puigcerda can easily 

 be reached, and the best part of Catalonia becomes accessible. 

 There was, however, nothing for it but to go back to the 

 plains and take the railway. 



At Carcassonne, where it had been oppressively hot a few 

 days before, every one was wrapped up and seeking shelter 

 from the mistral wind ; the great Hangs of Sijean and 

 Leucate, and even the usually blue Mediterranean, were 



