NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAB XXI. 1914. 181 



lu Oran is a learned societj, the Society de Geographie et d'Arch(^ologie 

 d'Oran, and two museums, one aa archaeological one, with very valuable Roman 

 and other antiquities, and a natural history one. Tbe latter owes its origin to 

 the zeal and liberality of the late Commandant Demaeght, but is now, we are 

 sorry to say, neglected, like so many other collections which have been created by 

 the energy of single genial persons rather than by public interest or official subsidy. 

 The building is shut up, and only opened by special request, and partly used as a 

 school for girls. The bird collection contains most of the common and larger, 

 more showy birds of Algeria, but some of the desert-forms and small birds are not 

 represented. The most interesting specimen is an Eupodotis arahs, a bird found 

 here and there in Marocco and very rarely in the westernmost parts of Algeria. 

 Localities and dates are often absent or even wrong. 



On April 10 many hundreds of Celerio lineata l/roriiica came to the bright 

 electric lamps on the public square in Oran, while on the ne.xt day only a single 

 specimen was seen. 



On April 18 we left Oran for Tlemcen, a town of about 24,000 inhabitants, of 

 which, however, barely 4500 are Europeans. The situation of the town is magnifi- 

 cent, at the foot of a lofty mountain-range, and in the midst of a very fertile plain 

 full of enormous old olive trees, fruit-gardens and fields. The climate is mild, there 

 being no excessive heat iu the summer, though in winter it can be very cold. For 

 the tourist who wants to see interesting Moorish buildings, and a student of Maghre- 

 bine history, Tlemcen is the most interesting town of Algeria. For a natural history 

 collector, and particularly for an ornithologist, it is inconvenient, as it is cultivated 

 and full of people all round, fields and gardens, which one cannot enter, and where 

 shooting is not allowed. Excursions to the fine oak-woods near Terni, between 

 Tlemcen and Sebdou, can be made by automobile, but they are naturally expensive 

 and much time is lost by going to and fro. These forests are, however, very interest- 

 ing. They are the home of a Jay not found in Western or Central Algeria, Gamihis 

 glandarius whitakeri, which had hitherto only been known from the . neighbourhood 

 of Tanger, North Marocco, and are full of birds and insect-life. 



Part of our time at Tlemcen was practically lost through rainy and very cold 

 weather. 



At Tlemcen we made the acquaintance of the entomological collector Lepitre, 

 who also gave us some interesting information about birds. On April 27 we made 

 an excursion, by automobile, to Lalla Marnia and the vast plain west of that town, 

 stretching across the frontier into Marocco, in the direction of Oudjda. 



Be3'ond the ruins and village of Mansoura, near Tlemcen, celebrated for its 

 wines and fruits, we entered a mountainous country with very little cultivation and 

 almost uninhabited. The excellent road runs through it in many windings. The 

 mountains are covered with short grass and other low plants and bushes, but no real 

 forest is seen. Common Buntings and Crested Larks were common in the fields ; 

 the latter occurred also on the hills, where Si/lvia melanocephala and Saxicola 

 rubicola were common, Diplootociis moassiiiri were not rare, and a few Oenanthe 

 leacura si/enitica occurred. At a bridge we saw a pair of Htrando daurica rufi.da 

 flying about, and soon had both birds in onr hands, though they required very careful 

 shooting in order not to drop into the deep ravine, where they might easily have 

 been lost. It was important to get these Swallows, because their occurrence in 

 Algeria had hitherto not been proved, resting as it did on a vague statement of 

 dealers (not taken seriously at the time I), and on an unproved observation. Under 



