810 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Starting from St. Malo, on April 14th, we passed through Dinan and 

 Vannes, and reached Nantes on April 16th. Though the country abounded 

 with birds, especially Whitethroats, Yellow Buntings, Cirl Buntings, Tree 

 Pipits, Redstarts, and Magpies, we saw nothing of particular interest till 

 we were near Vannes. Here we first came upon a colony of Sedge 

 Warblers singing in some thick bushes, and amongst the gorse on some 

 moorland a few miles further we heard Grasshopper Warblers, while in 

 the same neighbourhood we saw Hen Harriers. We were just five miles 

 from Nantes when suddenly several Nightingales in a thick hedgerow burst 

 forth into song. From this point we seemed to be always close to a Night- 

 ingale, and they were so numerous that T cannot help believing that we had 

 suddenly met the " rush " of Nightingales migrating northwards ; the 

 hedges and thickets resounded with their songs. The same evening it was 

 pleasant to see Swifts careering through the air over Nantes, and to hear 

 their screaming some days earlier than usual. We reached Les Sables 

 d'Olonne, our next stopping place, after a stormy day's ride, on April 17th, 

 and early on the following morning I walked out on the sand-hills by the 

 sea, and saw parties of Swifts flying steadily northwards. From Les Sables 

 our day's journey was to Lucon, and on the way, at Avrille, in some trees 

 by the roadside, T found a small colony of Bonelli's Warblers. How glad 

 I was to meet again this delightful little bird, and to be reminded of the 

 slopes of the Alps, where I first made its acquaintance last summer. On 

 this day also I met with the Crested Lark, and afterwards found it fairly 

 abundant in many places. The first part of the road from Lucon to La 

 Rochelle passes over a large tract of flat country intersected by many 

 ditches, where there are few bushes and trees, except by the roadside. 

 Here there were numbers of Stonechats, Yellow Wagtails, Corn Buntings, 

 Sedge Warblers, and a few Whinchats and Wheatears. In the trees by 

 the side of the road were many Magpies' nests, some of them destitute of 

 any roof. The Magpies are so numerous, and apparently unmolested, that 

 they seem to have grown careless in building their nests. They were to be 

 seen sitting on their eggs in most exposed situations quite near the ground. 

 Near La Rochelle Wrynecks were most extraordinarily abundant, and were 

 often seen as well as heard on the trees by the road. One pair sat side by 

 side on a gate-post, calling in unison, and did not seem to mind my presence 

 in the least. From the midst of a thick osier-bed I had splendid views of 

 three Hen Harriers, two males and one female, which kept flying close to 

 my head, and the latter once perched on an osier-stump only a few yards 

 from me. In the evening of April 19th we reached Rochefort, and next 

 day rode on through some beautiful country to Blaye, on the bank of the 

 Gironde. On the way Hoopoes soon attracted my attention, and it was 

 delightful to watch them bowing as they uttered their well-known "hoop- 

 hoop, hoop-hoop." On the same day (April 20th), near Pons, I first saw a 



