Avifauna of the Eastern Pyrenees. 521 



Ariegc south-east, and that of the River de la Lauze due 

 east. Thus three streams unite in the town to form a fine 

 river, which, at the time of our sojourn, was a brawling tor- 

 rent, swollen by the melting snows. Beneath Ax are a series 

 of subterranean caldrons, varying much in the chemical 

 constituents of their waters and in their temperature, which 

 ranges from 76° to 113° Fahrenheit; and these, together 

 with surrounding beautiful scenery, have combined to make 

 the town a much frequented, but not fashionable, watering- 

 place and summer resort. The valley here is 23(30 feet in 

 elevation, is narrow, and shut in by high mountains, the lower 

 slopes of which are clothed with woodlands of oak and other 

 deciduous trees, coppice or brushwood. Above these, on the 

 west and south-west, is a beech-region, followed at 4500 

 feet by dark pine-forests, which contrast grandly with the 

 perpetual snows that succeed and crown them, and with the 

 beautiful delicate green of the beeches below. On the east 

 side the woodlands are succeeded by pasture-lands, charac- 

 teristic of their limestone formation. 



We devoted a few days to an investigation of this beautiful 

 district. Birds were fairly numerous in the woodlands at the 

 lower elevations, and although nothing of special importance 

 was noted, yet it was interesting to observe that several 

 species here found the limit to their high Pyreuean range. 

 The Magpie, so ubiquitously and abundantly observed on the 

 journey, was very scarce and not observed in the higher 

 woodlands or the upper valleys, though they afford suitable 

 haunts. The same was noted with regard to the Blackbird, 

 Chiffchaff, Willow Wren, Long-tailed Titmouse, Great Tit- 

 mouse, Blue Titmouse, Woodchat Shrike, Creeper, Tree 

 Pipit, Greenfinch, Sparrow, Bullfinch, Green Woodpecker, 

 Wryneck, Turtle Dove, and Common Sandpiper. The beech- 

 region did not shelter many species, and the finding in it at 

 4150 feet of a nest of the Song Thrush, a vara avis here in 

 the summer, must rank as a distinct success. The pine- 

 forests, which were very extensive, were equally disappointing. 

 Most ornithologists are aware that to accomplish even a little 

 in such a habitat, a considei:'able amount of ground must be 



SEIl. VI. VOL. I. 2 M 



