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ORNITHOLOGICAL EXPLOEATIONS IX ALGERIA. 



By the HON. W. KOTHSCHILD, Ph.D., and E. HARTERT, Ph.D. 



(Plates IX.— XI., XV.— XXVI.) 



I. INTRODUCTION. 



THE followiug pages embody the ornithologioal results of three visits to 

 Algeria, dariug the years 1908, 1000, and 1911. 

 In 1908 we left England on February 12, and on the morning of the 

 following day reached Marseilles, on a cold and frosty morning, out of which 

 a bright sun arose on an immaculate bine sky : e.xceedingly beautiful to ns, after 

 weeks of dull, dark English winter days. Consequently our spirits were high 

 when we steamed through tlie picturesque harbour and bay, in anticipation of a 

 beautiful, line passage. Unfortunately onr hopes were not fulfilled, for during 

 the night, near the Balearic Isles, we encountered a strong wind and heavy seas, 

 and when we arrived off Algiers we had " had ipiite enough of it," and Algiers itself 

 did not present the often-deserilied '' vue ravissanto " which it frequently offers, 

 as it was more or less covered with clouds (Pi. XV., top). 



Fonr days we stayed at Algiers, enjoying beautiful weather, observing the 

 usual birds inhabiting the gardens, the " Bois," and woods in the neighbourhood, 

 catching a few /.ijqaeiia ahjira and moths, and getting shooting-licences, a (|uite 

 ceremonious and tedious affair, but necessary in order to avoid troubles and to 

 buy powder, which one cannot get for money unless one holds a licence. 



On the 19th we left for Biskra by the night train, reaching EI Guerrah 

 in the morning. The sun was brilliant, and from the train we saw on the bare 

 fields and meadows Plovers {Vanellns), White Storks, Ravens, Larks and 

 innumerable Sparrows. Near tiie station called " Les Lacs " a wide expanse 

 of flat water was seen, on it many ducks, a few gulls, and far away on the other 

 side hundreds and liundreds of Flamingoes I 



At last Biskra was reached, where we found coml'ortable rooms in the Hotel 

 Victoria (PI. XIX., toj)). 



We stayed in that now so well known tourists' oasis, with a tour to Batna 

 and another to El Kantara in between, until tlie end of April, and obtained a 

 splendid first knowledge of the ornis of the northern portion of the Algerian 

 Sahara. Biskra is a most convenient place for that purpose. One can stay in 

 more or less comfortable hotels, and can get carriages and horses to drive and ride, 

 and the neighbourhood is very interesting. Within a day's excursion one can climb 

 the wild and bare rocky hills forming, so to say, the northern lioundary of the 

 real desert, can become acquainted with the ornis of the oasis of date-palms, or 

 visit the plain of El Outaya with fields and gardens, or get a glimpse of the real 

 desert, many dry clayey stretches, real sand-dunes near Oumash, stony desert 

 close to the town and again immediately south of Bordj Saada, patches of sebcha 

 or salt-desert, as well as the banks and beds of desert-streams, the Oued Biskra 

 and Oued Djeddi, especially rich in migrants of many kinds. 



A visit to Batna was soon terminated : the hotel (now under another and 

 better mauagemeut) was not comfortable, and reminded us too little — the weather, 



