190 KOVITATES ZoOLO(nCAE XXI. 1914. 



1 7. Emberiza cia africana le Roi. 



Cf. le Roi, Or,i. Monalsln: 1911, p. 79. 



An adnlt male shot at Tlemcen on April 19, when several were seen. 



This form differs from E. cia cia and barbata by its larger (not slenderer, but 

 longer) bill and more restricted grey area on the throat ; the abdomen is certainly 

 not lighter than in E. c. barbata. 



18. Emberiza cirlus L. 



We have only with certainty seen this species in the hills of Tiffrit, north-west 

 of Saida, where a nestling was caught on May 21, 1913. 



19. Emberiza striolata sahari Lev. 



Nesting in small numbers in the houses of Aiu Sefra. Its fine song could be 

 heard in the quiet morning honrs in one's liedroom in the " hotel." 



21). Rhamphocorys clot-bey Bp. 



We have hitherto looked upon CUot-bey's Lark as a " trne desert species " 

 (W^hitaker, B. Tunisia i. p. 288), and we were therefore surprised to tind it not 

 very rare near Aiu Sefra,* in the stony plain along the foot of the high Djebel 

 Aissa. This plain is covered with innumerable stones, thronghout of a sandy 

 isabelline to brownish colour, and thinly covered with small bushes of Shih 

 {Artemisia herba-alba\ an occasional yellow-flowered Ferula and a few other 

 plants. We had hitherto been unsuccessful with Rliamjjlwconjs in so far that we 

 never fonnd the nest and eggs, but as we saw it here quite tame and uttering its 

 anxious, plaintive, long-drawn " tsee," we hoped sit once to find the eggs, and 

 to have an opportunity of observing its habits. Our expectations were, in this case, 

 fully realised. 



The nests, of which we. have seen altogether five (two with eggs, two with 

 young, and an old one), were all placed on the east side under little bushes, four 

 times under a bush of Shih {Artemisia /lerba-alha), once under a Ferula. The 

 nests were always more or less hidden by the little bushes ; none were {)laced nnder 

 or even near a large stone or boulder, but every one had on the outer (east) side of 

 the nest a more or less extensive stone wall, which, however, was only as high as the 

 outer wall of the nest, not reaching above the latter. Some of the stones weigh fully 

 half an ounce, though the majority are only a quarter of an ounce or even less in 

 weight ; they must be carried to their place in the bird's beak. We found an 

 unfinished nest without a wall of stones, and a few days after the stones were there ; 

 they need not, however, be brought from afar, as the surroundings of the nests are 

 covered with innumerable small, and often more or less flat stones. The nests 

 tliemselves are very much like those of Ammomanes deserti algeriensis, but the cup 



• We were not awaie then — not having any literature witli ns — that Am Sefra if* the oldest known 

 exact locality, for the lype of Ieraj}terina cavaitjnacii (Des Mnrs and Lucas, liev. awl Mag. de Zool. 

 1851, p. 25, pi. 1.) came from Ain Sefra. Whitaker il.c.) says that the specimens received at the 

 Zoological Gardens in 1S89 also came from Ain Sefra, but in Proc. Zool. Soc, 1HH9, pp. 20, 27, Ain Sefra 

 is not mentioned. We do not believe that they came from there, as together with them came Eremophila 

 (^Otocoryi auct.) Mlopha, which we never saw in the neighbourhood. We also met, at Oran, the dealer 

 who sent these birds to Dr. Sclater. but he was only able to say that be received them from the utmost 

 south of the province of Oran. 



