BIRD NOTES IN NORMANDY 163 
Audemer. Pied wagtails were abundant, especially by the Tan- 
carville and Havre Canal. Some of the grey species and a fair 
number of the white {Motacilla alba) were seen, but not one 
yellow wagtail. Tits were strangely scarce, the blue and long- 
tailed kinds being apparently the chief representatives. 
Very pleasing it was to note, over and over again, a few 
goldfinches. The district around Jumi^ges was noticeably rich, 
and these birds are great favourites there for the cage. The 
turtle-dove, too, is often seen in the cages outside the cottages. 
Redstarts might be said to be moderately plentiful, and a good 
number of red-backed shrikes are recorded. One day, at 
Vainville, near Jumieges, I observed a shrike with food in its 
mouth, and seeing that it was a little suspicious, jumped off the 
bicycle. The subsequent distress of the creature settled my 
doubts, and careful search on an adjacent hawthorn revealed 
the little butcher's larder, several humble-bees of two species, 
and the hinder part of a large beetle, all neatly skewered on 
the thorns. 
Of the flowers of Normandy little need be said ; they are 
more readily seen than birds and more easily examined, if the 
cyclist does not mind dismounting now and then. He will find 
vast stretches of melilot, yellow and white, vervain in surpris- 
ing profusion, clumps of soapwort, and long banks of mulleins 
{V. Thapsnsdind V. and rank masses of fennel and hemlock. 
The huge plane tree near Bayeux Cathedral will not be over- 
looked, nor the nineteen specimens of the “ Tree of the gods ” 
{Ailanthus) in front of the Lycee Corneille at Rouen. The 
Gingko tree in the Castle grounds at Domfront might easily be 
missed, but catalpas meet the eye continually. 
Birds of Central France and the Auvergne. 
Perhaps a supplement to the above notes may not be un- 
welcome. The following observations cover a month’s cycling 
and walking tour, taken in August, 1905. The departments 
visited were Seine-et- Marne, Seine-et-Oise, Loiret, Loire-et- 
Cher, Cher, Allier, Puy de Dome, and Cantal. 
Journeying southwards from Fontainebleau, by Montargis 
and Cosne to Nevers, one noticed, scattered amidst fertile fields, 
pastures burnt and bare beyond belief. For scores of miles the 
star-thistle [Centaurea Calcitrapa) abounded, and one field seemed 
given over to the alien thorn-apple {Datura Stramonium) ; yet the 
bird-life was not poor — greenfinches, flycatchers, and stonechats 
were common, and, of course, magpies. Attached to the arch- 
way of the stable-yard of the inn at Villeneuve (Allier) was a 
huge patchwork, composed of house-martins’ nests. At Riom 
it was pleasant to hear the song of the blackcap, a bird not 
much in evidence in France. 
As I travelled still southwards into the volcanic district of 
the Auvergne, birds became scarcer. Some goldfinches appeared 
by the shores of Lac D’Aydat, which is held up by a dam 
