An Ornithological Letter from Mentone. 159 
are being constantly tended, the safe nesting of birds where they 
abound is nearly frustrated; there are, however, fir woods in 
the western bay, and here and there a few copses of other trees 
are found, in which even the Blackbird might find a thicket to 
his fancy. Both Mentone and its neighbourhood are destitute 
of lagoons, of pools, of marshes, of rivers; the torrents that now 
and then sweep down the mountain-sides are too soon gone to 
supply the deficiency. There is no ebb in the sea here, no s^nd, 
no long bare reaches of wild ground—bare through the influence 
of the sea; the sea-birds, therefore, obtain their living entirely 
from the sea itself, as there is no soft sand or mud where they 
might find worms or mollusks. 
On Oct. 21st I found myself established at Mentone, with 
leisure to ramble, and having a great wish to ascertain the 
names of some of the birds which lured me on by their voices 
among the olives. After a morning spent among the trees, and 
an afternoon among the rocks, the following results were ob¬ 
tained. Morning :—Gold-crest and Fire-crest Wrens ( Reguli 
cristatus and ignicapillus) , which will stay with us all the winter; 
the Wood-Wren ( Phyllopneuste sylvicola), about whose move¬ 
ments I am still in doubt; the Black-cap, male and female 
(,Sylvia atricapilla) , which does not stay the winter. Afternoon: 
—the Blue Bock-Thrush ( Petrocincla cyanea ), staying all the 
year at Mentone, as do the two following—the Black Redstart 
(Ruticilla tithys ) and the Bock-Martin (Hirundo rupestris ). 
With regard to the two last-named birds, I cannot help thinking 
it worth remarking that they, though generally accounted true 
migrators, should be content to forego their natural propen¬ 
sities, and thus establish themselves permanently as residents of 
Mentone. The Black Redstart is only an occasional visitor to 
England ; the Rock-Martin has never been found in our island : 
yet these birds, or rather these individual examples of these 
species, are not so sensitive to the approach of winter as the 
common Redstart (Ruticilla phcenicura ), the Swallow, Swift, 
and many others, which are, notwithstanding, constant spring- 
visitors to Great Britain. Hirundo rupestris is the only member 
of the Swallow tribe that winters at Mentone; and I may count 
myself fortunate that I have had the opportunity of observing 
