KOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXI. 1914. 191 



is slightly larg'er, and for the outside some thicker stems and roots are taken ; 

 towards the inside follow finer roots and grass-stems, and the lining consists some- 

 times of risps of a grass {Aristida plumosa L.), or more often of ])ieces of rags, 

 plenty of pieces of a white woolly Zoocecidian (produced by Rkopalomyia uavasi 

 Tavares, a species of Cecidomyidae * which one finds frequently on the branches 

 of the Artemisia herba-alha ; these latter nests closely resemble many of the nests 

 of Ammomanes deserti algerieiisi.s, but they are a little larger and the outside is 

 coarser. One of the nests had a great resemblance to a ))lant of the Illecebraceae, 

 called Paronychia argentea, when flowering. 



The normal number of eggs is evidently four, and the first nest we found 

 contained five eggs, hard-set, necessitating much patience in blowing. 



Of the three species of birds which nest chiefly under Shih bushes the nests of 

 Erythrospiza yithaginea zedlitzi are the most hidden ones, those of Ammomanes 

 deserti algeriensis are generally a little more free, those of Rhamphocorys the most 

 conspicuous ones, e.xcept for the close resemblance to the surroundings. 



The only eggs hitherto known were those in Professor Koenig's collection in 

 Bonn. He found a full, strongly incubated clutch of two eggs between Ghardaia and 

 Guerrara on April 20, 1893, and Messrs. Spatz and Alessi found two clutches 

 of three eggs each on the Oued Nakhla in South Tunisia, which were also bought by 

 Koeuig. Koenig has described and figured the eggs {Journ. f. Orn, 1895, pi. xiv. 

 pp. 260-64). He says the nest was placed under a bush of Haifa-grass, but the 

 otherwise e.xcellent plate gives the impression as if it was built quite a distance 

 from a grass-bush, quite open among stones, and the stone wall (or "walk-up") 

 is much less in evidence than it was on all our nests near Ain Sefra. Moreover, the 

 true Haifa, i.e. Stipa (or Macrochloa) tenacissima is apparently not found between 

 Ghardaia and Guerrara, where other allied species replace it. 



The eggs of Rlinmphocorys are ovate, varying a little in breadth, sometimes 

 being more elongate. Their ground-colour is creamy white, when fresh with 

 a delicate pinkish tinge, and marked with reddish-brown or rufous spots and 

 a few underlying faint mauve patches and spots. The rufous markings are 

 either bold and sharply defined or more faint and paler. The surface is distinctly 

 glossy and has numerous large pores, the shell is thin and of a yellowish cream- 

 colour when held against the light. The measurements are as follows : 



Clutch of five, 3. V. 1913: 25-8 x 19-2, 25-6 x 19-1, 26-8 x 19-7, 254 x 19-6, 

 25-7 X 19-3 mm. 



Clutch of four, 11. V. 1913: 26-7 x 192, 27-4 x 18-8, 26-5x19, 26-3 

 X 19'4 mm. 



An addled egg, 15. v. 1913 : 28 x 188 mm. 



The nestlings have at first some cream-coloured down. The juvenile plumage 

 is described in Xoc. Zool. 1913, p. 42, and by Mr. Ogilvie-Graut in Bull. B.O. Club. 



The call-note is a drawn, plaintive whistle, very characteristic. This is, at 

 all events, the usual note one hears near the nests with eggs or young. Several 

 times we saw the males flying high in the air, throwing themselves right and left 

 in zigzag flight, somewhat after the manner of some sandpipers, and during this 

 flight they uttered an often-repeated short djup, djup, djfip, djiip, djup, much 

 shorter than the drawn whistle which they utter when running on the ground. 

 Only once did one of us hear a shore warbling note, similar to that heard once near 

 Ghardaia in 1911. 



* See Ann. Soe. EiUomol. de France, Ixxxi, (1912) p. 184. 



