( 502 ) 



he compared, but probably his series was not a large one, especially of Enropean 

 birds. Kleinschmidt says his new name has the value that it proves that 

 German Laniiis senator are not N. African birds pushed onwards to the north 

 by a migration wave,* but were already at home on the Rhine a century and 

 a half ago. Certainly the history of the species proves this fact, but not the 

 new name given to the N.W. African bird by Kleinschmidt ! Moreover, the 

 creation of new names shonld not be experiments or instruments to prove his- 

 torical facts, but if a bird is " named," the characters given in the diagnosis 

 should enable us to distinguish it. We deny that this is possible in the present 

 case, and therefore do not admit the name /filc/t/r/eri. 



With regard to the Woodchat Shrike in Algeria : it is not seen there in the 

 winter, its winter quarters being farther south, in Senegambia, Nigeria, and 

 Hausaland ; but it passes through in great numbers in April and end of March 

 (our first specimen seen and obtained was on March 23), and breeds commonly 

 near Batna, and everywhere to the nortli of Batna. We found the nests on tdive 

 trees and in bushes, containing eggs in May. 



Among the series we collected (fifteen apparent migrants from El Oued and 

 Touggonrt to Biskra, and eleven breeding birds from Lambese, Batna, Hammam 

 Meskoutine and Alger) are two without white bases to the outer jirimaries : one 

 from Biskra, April 18, 1908, probably still on migration, though possibly breeding : 

 one from Lambfese, May 5, 1909, undoubtedly at its breeding-place. These birds 

 do not seem to be separable from L. senator badius of Sardinia and Corsica, 

 which aji[)('ars to be distinguishable by nothing but the absence of a white base to 

 the outer primaries. 



We should be only too glad to deny the validity of the form badius, but as 

 all the eight adult males, shot sufficiently late in Sardinia and Corsica to be certain 

 that they were breeding birds, have no speculum, and Kleinschmidt also has a 

 series from Sardinia without speculum, this cannot be accidental, and badius must 

 be looked upon as a good insular race, though specimens like it are sometimes 

 found in N.W. Africa. 



In 1911 we saw Red-headed Shrikes on passage at Tilrhempt (in the 

 dayats) and Laghouat, as well as a very few on their nesting-ground near Algiers 

 and Hammam R'hira. 



62. Pycnonotus barbatus barbatus (Desf). 



We only came across this bird in three places — Hammam R'hira, the ])lain of 

 Ai'n Mokra on Lake Fetzara, and Hammam Meskoutine — and collected a few 

 specimens. 



It occurs only in N. Algeria. As all the allies, and especially the very 

 closely allied P. barbatus inornatus, are trojiical birds, the latter inhabiting W. 

 Africa from Senegambia to the Niger, the Algerian form (which dill'ers only in a 

 slightly longer wing and tail from inornatus) must have reached N.W. Africa along 

 the west coast, and not across the Sahara, or else we should find it in the oases and 

 S. Algeria generally. 



We cannot understand why we did not succeed in finding the nests at Hammam 

 R'hira in May, when the l)irds were seen daily in the gardens. 



* The term "wave" is an unhappy one for tlie phenomenon of migrator; movements, as will be 

 explained elsewhere. 



