( 51" ) 



The iirst specimen we obtained was a very pale female with bufi' patches 

 on the back, which we shot on ])assage south of Biskra on April 19. Others 

 were shot on the Col de Sfa near Biskra, in the desert between Biskra and Oumash, 

 both in March, others again in the vast sand-desert between El Oued and Tonggourt 

 on April 5 and 11. 



When at Batiia on April 1.") and 10, iOn^, we were unable to find this bird, 

 which was quite common there in May 1901*. Although in 1908 we did not visit 

 quite the same spots, and the weather was abominable, we do not think that we 

 overlooked the bird, but conclude tliat it only arrives after the middle of April 

 on its breeding-ground. Altogether we collected six adult males and five females. 



The iris is ochre, feet light reddish brown, the npper bill and tip of lower 

 mandible are dark horn-brown, base of lower pale brown. 



Wings : Males and females 54 — 55 mm. 



90. Sylvia undata toni Hart. 



Neither in 1908 nor in 1909 did we come across any Dartford Warblers, 

 but in 1911 we had better luck. The first one was a very adult female, almost 

 coloured like a male, shot on January 28 near Bonzarea, a few kilometres from 

 Algiers, in thick gorse bushes. Afterwards we found it qnite common in the 

 thick bushes on the Oued Biskra, late in February and to the middle of March, 

 when they became rarer. These birds were doubtless on passage, but seem to 

 winter at Biskra, as Mr. Meade-Waldo observed them several weeks before, 

 and Fliickiger shot one south of Biskra on January 14, 1903. All these birds 

 belong to the African form ; their wings measure 49-5 to 53 mm. 



Afterwards we found them common near Hararaam R'hira, where they were 

 breeding on the outskirts and in the middle of the pine-woods. Unfortunately 

 we were too late for the eggs, as the young had mostly left their nests. We 

 shot two of these nestlings, which are much more grey, less rufous on the upper 

 surface, than English young birds. Only oneof onr birds from Biskra was renewing 

 its rectrices ; the others were not moulting, though probably they would moult their 

 body-i)lumage before they bred. 



The iris is cinnamon brown or brownish orange, the bare orbital ring orange 

 red or brick-red ; the upper bill and tip of mandible is blackish horn-brown, base 

 of lower dull or pale orange ; feet dull orange or yellowish brown. 



91. Agrobates galactotes galactotes (Temm.). 



We have only come across these birds near El Kantara and Biskra, where 

 they were freqiaenting opuntia hedges and tamarisk bushes, also the gardens 

 of Biskra. They appear to be migratory, for we never saw any until April, 

 while Koeuig states also that they did not arrive at Biskra uutil March 19, 1892. 



',>-'. Scotocerca inquieta saharae (Loche). 



This j)retty little bird is found among the thick pad-like bushes of Limoniastrum, 

 Ilalocnemon, and other plants, as well in the sandy desert as in the sebcha. 

 It is found in small numbers between Biskra and Oumash, and in the plain 

 of Moukina, south of Biskra, but it is much more common south of Bordj 

 Saada, and all the way down to Tonggourt in suitable jilaces. We have, however, 

 uever seen it among the dunes east of Tonggourt. 



