180 NOTITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXI. 1914. 



A ZOOLOGICAL TOUR IN WEST ALGERIA. 



By THE Hox. WALTER ROTHSCHILD, F.R.S., Ph.D., and ERNST 

 HARTERT, Ph.D. 



(Plates VII. and VIII.) 



I. NARRATIVE. 



PRACTICALLY all ornithological work in Algeria had hitherto been done in 

 the provinces of Constantine and Alger, i.i'. in the Eastern and Middle parts 

 of the colony. The collections on which Malherbe based his lists came from Gnelma 

 and Bone, Loche lived at Als;er, in Central Algeria and its eastern parts, Salvin 

 collected in its easternmost districts, Tristram travelled from Alger to Boghari, 

 Laglionat, Ghardaia, Tonggourt, Biskra, and thence eastwards ; Bnvr}' visited only 

 the eastern parts of the country ; Dixon collected in the Aures monntaius and in 

 the north-east. Professor Koenig and all other recent ornithologists, Witherby, 

 ourselves, Count Zedlitz, the Rev. Jourdain and others have made collections and 

 observations in the east only, and West Algeria therefore has remained almost 

 a terra incognita to ornithologists. We therefore decided to pay a first visit to 

 the west of the colony in 1913. 



On April 1, 1913, we went on board the TinKjad, the best ship of the Compagnie 

 Transatlantiipie now plying between Marseille and Alger, and reached the latter 

 place in bright sunshine at noon the following day. Near the Algerian coast a 

 number of Puffins (Fratecula arctica) were observed, together with a few Gulls and 

 the usual Piiffinus puffiints i/elkoaun. On April 8 we left Alger for Oran. Along 

 the railway line Emberiza miliarin was the commonest bird, and we also recognised 

 some skylarks, Calandra larks, crested larks, finches, sparrows, Falco tiiinunculus, 

 and Milvus ynigrans. 



We were, as usual, accompanied by Mr. Carl Hilgert, of Ingellieim, and also 

 by Mr. Alan Ruddle, now at the British Mnseam, for the purpose of trapping and 

 skinning small mammals, and of preserving their fleas. 



Oran is the second largest town of Algeria. It contains many fine buildings, 

 and has a better, much drier climate than Alger. At least half the population are 

 Spaniards. For collecting purposes it is, like all large towns, inconvenient, though 

 better than Alger. In a morning's or afternoon's walk one can visit the Djebel 

 Moiirdjadjo with its pine-woods and grassy slopes, or the neighbourhood of the 

 " Batterie espagnole." The latter used to be a famous collecting ground for insects, 

 shells, and reptiles, but is now, through more intense cultivation of the ground, 

 poor compared with what it used to be. 



At Oran we made the acquaintance of the author of the excellent Essai sur 

 la Faune Erpctologique de rUran/e, Professor F. Doumergne, the botanist pastor 

 Pfrimmer, and the entomological collector Monsieur A. Tournier. With very good 

 automobiles and able chauffeurs we made excursions to the Djebel Khar or Linn 

 Hill, east of Oran, to the Cap Falcon, north-west of Oran, where some saud-duaes 

 afford an interesting collecting ground for botanists and entomologists, and to the 

 oak-forests of Msila, west of the Djebel Mourdjadjo. 



