230 Letters, Announcements, S^c. 



to see what Mr. Gurney thinks. A few Griffon Vultures also 

 nestj I believe, on that side of the Rhuue, just within the 

 French frontier. 



The Egyptian Vulture has not yet arrived ; last year I saw 

 the first pair on 8th March. The Spotted Eagle I have seen 

 several times on the wooded sides of the Spanish mountains ; 

 and very noisy birds they are ; and that ignoble although 

 handsome-looking bird the Short-toed Eagle drew my atten- 

 tion from a family party of Crested Tits not long since. 



Magpies swarm ; nineteen were counted in one field ; and 

 they are now hard at work upon their nests. People here 

 complain of the scarcity of Partridges, and no wonder ; but it 

 is useless to tell them that the Magpies and Jays are some of 

 the greatest egg-robbers in the world. The Raven may 

 always be seen among the mountains ; and not long ago 1 

 saw a couple soaring round a man who was digging a grave 

 for a dead horse just outside the town, a proceeding which 

 they resented by repeated angry barks, expressive of their 

 disgust at such a misapplication of the gifts of nature. Re- 

 specting the smaller birds there is nothing much to be said 

 without making a catalogue. Yarrell's Wagtail, with the 

 blackest of backs, is the common species ; and there is every 

 gradation up to the palest grey of the White Wagtail. 



Passing from the land to the sea, the Herring-Gull of the 

 coast is at present the yellow-legged Larus cachinnans ; and 

 an adult specimen which I shot on 12th January not only 

 had those parts of the brightest lemon, but also showed 

 scarcely a trace of those grey striations on the head and neck 

 which are often considered to be a constantly recurring winter 

 plumage and quite irrespective of age. Then, strange as it 

 may appear, the large Shearwater which occurs, or at least 

 which has been obtained, on these coasts is not Pitffinus 

 major, Faber, of the North Atlantic, but the Mediterranean 

 P. kuhli (Boie). The severest shock that I received was, 

 however, in the Bayonne Museum, where the Curator showed 

 me, with pride, a fine specimen of the Great Skua, shot at 

 the end of last year, and freshly mounted. A very dark 

 bird, with large coarse feet. I raised the wing; the under- 



