Birds of the Pyrenees. 73 



the latter certainly understood and obeyed. Mounting a 

 wooden staircase to the general room, the Willow-Warbler was 

 taken out of Feilden's hat and placed on the window-sill, 

 where we watched it preening its feathers and preparing for 

 flight ; when a cat, the presence of which no one had 

 suspected, came with a rush under our arms, and the poor 

 little Warbler was never seen more. After this tragedy, we 

 rattled down to Merens, and so to Ax-les-Thermes, warmth 

 and civilized life. 



At Ax we remained nearly a week, making excursions as 

 well as the unsettled state of the weather permitted, but not 

 a day passed without rain or hail. One walk was up the 

 Oriege (a tributary of the Ariege) to Forge d'Orlu, where a 

 few interesting birds were observed ; another was by Merens 

 to the Lac de Comte, one of a chain of lakes where large trout 

 undoubtedly exist, for they carried away our entire " casts,^' 

 but we landed none. A little higher up was Ptarmigan-ground, 

 and Grey Partridges were calling below. We had secured 

 the services of a chasseur who was also a sort of parish- 

 councillor, a good and truthful man, with one trifling lapse. 

 A heavy storm had swept over the Lac de Comte, and 

 while we were sheltering in a diminutive cabin belonging to 

 a shepherd, the councillor was entertaining the owner — and 

 himself — with a plentiful supply of the wine which we were 

 far too cold to desire. Yet more, our friend had purchased 

 from that shepherd for 2 francs a very old yellow-breasted 

 Marten [Mustela martes) which, it was said, had just been 

 dropped by a Golden Eagle ; and when we reached Merens 

 the councillor drank to his bargain in a stiff glass of absinthe. 

 Mounting our carriage and driving rapidly down the road, 

 something was said about Vultures. " Ah, do you take an 

 interest in Vultures ? " said the councillor (as if we had not 

 been talking of birds for the last four days) : " what a pity I 

 did not know it sooner, for I would have shown you where 

 they nest in any numbers in the great cliff by Merens, but 

 it is now too late to go back ; that must be for another day." 

 We did not go back, for we had now passed that cliff for 

 the third time without seeing a sign of a Vulture ; and we 



