74 Mr. H. Saunders on the 



maintained a qualified belief respecting a likely-looking 

 spot which was pointed out, lower down, as the eyrie of the 

 Golden Eagle. But with, regard to Capercaillie and other 

 game-birds the councillor, in his calmer moments, knew what 

 he was talking about, and he was a good fisherman, after his 

 kind. Altogether, Ax is by no means a bad place for head- 

 quarters. 



We visited Tarascon twice, and on the first occasion we 

 observed Swifts (which had not been seen at Ax), and I saw 

 one pair of Alpine Swifts. There, and along the valley of 

 the Ariege, are several interesting caverns, and in one of 

 these Feilden secured fragments of the bones of the cave-bear 

 and of man. From Tarascon we drove to St. Girons, to 

 avoid the wearisome journey by way of Toulouse — passing 

 through fine scenery of the second class, and baiting at the 

 little town of Massat, where there is an excellent old-fashioned 

 inn, superlative cooking, and a grand view of the snowy mass 

 of Mont Vallier in the background. The latter part of the 

 road was along the wooded banks of a river, and rain was 

 falling in torrents. At St. Girons there is a large hotel, 

 frequented by, and only suited to, commercial travellers. 



At Luchon I had the pleasure of renewing my acquaint- 

 ance with the distinguished mountaineer and geologist, 

 M. Maurice Gourdon, who told me, amongst other things, 

 that "according to common report^' (and we know what the 

 equivalent of rumour is), the ibex had been almost exter- 

 minated in the Valle de Ara (also known as the Val de 

 Arazas) in Aragon, by English sportsmen, who had spared 

 neither female nor kid. I felt safe in assuring him that neither 

 the late Sir Victor Brooke nor any of Mr. E. N. Buxton's 

 party had been guilty of such atrocities. We made excur- 

 sions to the Lac d'Oo and the Vallee de Lys, subsequently 

 visiting Argeles-Gazost and Gavarnie, and continuing west- 

 ward to my old quarters at St. Jean-de-Luz; but such 

 well-trodden ground calls for no special remark. The rain, 

 it rained every day. We ascended the Rhune mountain, and, 

 for the first time in my experience, neither a Bearded nor a 

 Griffon Vulture was to be seen there ; but this was hardly to 



