158 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



planted along the path by the river. A male without a tail had 

 a most extraordinary appearance. 



Anthus trivialis. — Fairly common ; about the edges of 

 woods, &c. 



Oriolus galbula. — I heard the note of this bird in the Bois de 

 Roquet. 



Lanius collurio. — I saw four males and one female. A male 

 flew past one day with a cockchafer in his bill. Having settled 

 on a bare branch, he put the chafer under foot and devoured it 

 piecemeal, giving two or three harsh notes of satisfaction at 

 the finish. 



Hirundo rustica. — Not very numerous, and far less so than 

 the next species. 



Chelidon urbica. — Abundant. All up the Meuse from Namur, 

 as we approached Dinant on a wet evening, the House Martins 

 were conspicuous over the river, and they were numerous at 

 Dinant, and about a large farm in the Lesse valley. In Givet 

 they were in some numbers, and bred unmolested in the corners 

 of windows, as well as under the eaves. In these towns there 

 are not the swarms of Sparrows that we have. A crowd of 

 Martins were collecting mud at a small pond at Sanzinne, and 

 the same day we found them swarming in Houyet, a typical 

 Ardenne village devoted to cows. It is quite a pleasure to see 

 any number of Martins, for it is some years since I have seen a 

 building well decorated with nests in England. 



Cotile riparia. — A small colony in a shallow sand-pit near 

 Agimont. As they were common over the Meuse about Dinant, 

 I supposed that some bred in holes between the stones of the 

 built-up river banks, and other supporting walls where roads had 

 been cut out, for I saw no sandy places in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood. Yet all day they skimmed low over the water, and 

 they haunted the river more than either Swallows or House 

 Martins. 



Ligurinus chloris. — Seen occasionally. 



Passer domesticus. — Did not swarm as with us. 



P. montanus. — Seen about young apple trees at Agimont; a 

 pair near Houyet, and others in a garden there. The Tree 

 Sparrow appears to be rather a common bird in Belgium. 



Fringilla coelebs. — Common; in the roadside trees in the 



