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Mrs. Katherine Currey,



It is quite impossible to enumerate all the birds in a district

so wide and so varied as this ; bounded as it is on one side by the

sea and level plain, and more distant marsh land, and on the other

by mountains both pine-clad and bare and interspersed by deep

ravines, fertile valleys and grassy uplands. The gulls and other

coast birds might be a study by themselves. They include, among

many others, the ‘ Yellow-legged Mediterranean Gull,’ the Audouin

Gull and the Slender-billed Gull. One of the favourite breeding

places of the latter used to be, and I believe still is, the mouth of

the Khone. In the marshy districts are various duck and also teal,

as well as snipe. Among the rarer waders are the graceful Avocet

and the handsome Purple Heron.


These short notes may perhaps serve to show that the ‘ Fair

land of Provence ’ is not devoid of bird-life, and that any morning

“ When all the birds have Matin said

And sung their Thankful Hymn ’ ’


the bird-lover or field ornithologist may sally forth armed with field-

glass and note-book, and he will surely find much to amuse, to

interest, and may be, to instruct him further in his favourite study.


Lou CasUn, Valesune, Var.



BREAKFAST GUESTS.


By Katharine Currey.


There are so many instances recorded of the remarkable

tameness of the Tit family, that now that winter has come, I

resolved to put it to the proof by placing ground-nuts and maize and

other ‘ tit-bits ’ on an upstairs window-sill early in the morning, and

waiting to see what would happen.


The Great Tit has always been one of the most frequent of

our winter guests, fearlessly feeding in the verandah off maize, or

dari, or ground-nuts, which he flies off with to some good hammering

point, such as a garden-chair or table or a forked branch, but beyond

the verandah and into the house he has never ventured. The wee

‘ Blue Bonnet ’ flashes up on to the winter supply of lard and bones

on the bird-pole, but neither he nor the Cole Tit have ever trusted

themselves long in the verandah.



