( 527 ) 



& melanocephala which we found close by, but are imsnited for the eggs which 

 resemble those of Reed Warblers. Both eggs are strikingly smaller than the 

 majority of European eggs, measuring only 20-6 x 15'5 and 20-3 x 14-7 mm. 



Cacalm canorus canorux is i)robably migratory through Algeria. We saw 

 ( hickoos on passage in the dayats near Tilrhempt, and once near Biskra, but do not 

 know if they were of the big race or of the small one. Cuckoos are not seen in 

 Algeria in winter, therefore minor must also be migratory. 



144. Strix aluco mauritanica (With.). 



Si/riimm nliirn mnnritniiicum Witherby. Bull. B.O.C. xv. p. 37 (190.5 — " Marocco and Algeria." 

 Tjpe from Lea Glaciere.s, above Blidah, in the "Little Atlas" of Algeria, in Witherby 's 

 collection) ; Ibis 1905. p. 19fi. 



The "Tawny Owl" from N.W. Africa differs from S. aluco aluco in having 

 hardly any tawny colour in its plumage. While S. aluco aluco varies greatly, 

 all N.W. African specimens which we have seen are somewhat more barred on the 

 upper and under surface and generally darker and more greyish, though single 

 specimen.s may be fonnd that do not differ from extreme European specimens. 



These Owls are rare in Algeria. We have been able to compare the following 

 specimens only : 



The type from Les Glacieres, above Blidah. 



Two from Batna, purchased from Mattre-Sellier Taillefer. 



One from Hammam Meskoutine. 



One from North Morocco, near Tangier. 



Mr. Witherby has seen two others. 



145. Bubo bubo ascalaphus Savigny. 



Our acquaintance with this bird has, unfortunately, remained hitherto very 

 scanty. 



The first we saw was one mounted in the dining-room at the Hotel Bertrand 

 at El Kantara, which was shot from the balcony of the hotel by the waiter, Henry 

 Tacon. Mr. Th^riat told us that he had occasionally, but very seldom, flushed 

 such Eagle-owls among the juniper bushes on Mount Metlili, when stalking 

 Mountain or Barbary Sheep. In 1909, May 2, we obtained a beautiful male 

 on the mountains south of the pass, called the Red Mountains. Its iris was 

 orange-yellow, feet greyish horn-colour with horn-grey claws, bill horn-black, cere 

 slate-colour. This bird agreed in every detail with the one stuffed in the hotel ; 

 and another, obtained while still wet, from a bird-stuffer in Laghouat, is also 

 of the same colour. A third one, bought in Uonstantiue, and said to come from 

 Biskra (which is just as likely to be incorrect as right), is a shade paler, while 

 one which Hartert compared with the one from El Kantara, and which had 

 been shot by Professor Kuenig near Wargla, is much lighter and paler. It seems, 

 therefore, that Erlanger was right when he separated a paler southern form 

 from the darker northern race, and his observations were also fully endorsed by 

 Mr. Whitaker. 



We have bought an ascalaphus from Schliiter, labelled (original label) Cabo 

 Eorgas, Morocco. (Jape Forgas is on the Mediterranean coast in North Morocco, 

 and, as the bird shows signs of having been kept alive, it may have been brought 

 there from farther south. We have also received from Mr. Riggenbach two fine 



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