( 526 ) 



hours from Hatnraam R'hira and near Lake Fetzara. We fomiil the iris of ailnlr 

 males white or whitish ]iinlv, the bill olive horu-grey, base of lower niaudible jiale 

 greenish yellow, feet greyish green. 



141). Dendrocopus major numidus (Malh.) 



FonnJ in many of tiie oak-woods of Algeria, though we only saw and shot it 

 in the forest on the slopes of Mount Taya east of Constantine. It is apparently not 

 found in pine-woods, or else we should surely have come across it near Hammain 

 R'hira and elsewhere. Neither Professor Koeuig nor any one of ourselves saw it 

 near Batna and Lambese. 



141. Jynx torquilla mauretanica Rothsch. 



An exceedingly dark specimen of a Wryneck was shot during a heavy sandstdnn 

 at El Oued, on April 8, 1909. Though .7. tonjuilla torquilla was met with on 

 passage in several places of the south, this dark and very small form was not seen 

 until we came to Hammam Meskontiue, where it is not rare in February as well as 

 in May. It also occurs near Algiers, where we found it late in January. It is thus 

 evident that it is partly migratory, partly resident in North Algeria. It is easily 

 distinguislied from the North Enroi)ean torquilla by its generally mnch and always 

 somewhat darker and less rufescent upperside, differentl}' coloured, more yellowish, 

 not so rufous throat, and wider bars on the underside, as well as considerably smaller 

 dimensions. In coloration it agrees, however, with Ji/nx torquilla tscliusii Kleinschin., 

 first described from Sardinia, and inhabiting Corsica, Sardinia, and Italy, but its 

 dimensions are slightly smaller. 



lu habits the Algerian Wryneck agrees with the English form. 



14','. Jynx torquilla torquilla L. 



The larger, lighter-coloured North Eiirojiean Wryneck is a coiumon bird of 

 ])assage in Algeria, where we came across it in March and April at Biskra, Touggourt, 

 and Temacin, south of Touggourt. 



143. Cuculus canorus minor A. E. Brehm. 



Cuculus canorus miimr A. E. Brehm, Ally. D. Naturhisl. Zcituiig 1857. p. 444 (.Summer bird in 

 Spain). 



The Cuckoo of N.W. Africa is smaller than Eiiroi)eau (Juckoos. As long ago 

 as 1857, A. E. Brehm clearly separated the Cuckoo found in Spain in summer as 

 C. canorus minor^ stating at the same time that the common (-uckoo occurred only 

 on migration. 



We failed to collect skins of Cuckoos in Algeria. After the migration period 

 they were only met with near Hammam Meskoutine, where they were by no 

 means common, and in the neighbourhood of Algiers, where shooting was at the 

 time jirohibited. We found, however, two eggs, on May 13 and 1(3, 1911, near 

 Algiers, both in the nests of Sylcia melanocephala. Both arc almost perfectly 

 alike, being of a reddish cream-colour densely spotted with pale brown and 

 underlying pale brownish grey spots. One was with a clutch of three pink eggs, 

 the other with three greenish eggs, closely resembling Reed Warbler's eggs. The 

 Cuckoo's eggs resemble the former, and even more another variety of the eggs of 



