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however, only a few degrees above freezing-point, with driving rain and sleet, too 

 much — of home at that time of the year. 



On the other hand we enjoyed tlie beautiful grand scenery of El Kantara 

 (PI. XVIL, XVIII.). It was cold there also most of the time, but we saw 

 Bearded Vultures on many occasions, caught the pretty Lti -Ulolj charlonia and 

 other butterflies among the halfa-grass on the mountains, in similar j)laces as 

 Eucldoi'falloui, which, togetlier with I'l charlonia, we had previously caught on the 

 Djebel Bou Ghezal, on the edge of the desert near Biskra. 



Along the high wall of almost bare rocks near El Kantara one of the 

 commonest birds is the tame Ammomanes deserti algeiiensis, and next to it 

 perhaps Galerida theklae hilgerti, while Oe/iaiUhe leucara syenitica is also very 

 characteristic for this region. On the rocks themselves birds are rather scarce ; 

 a few pairs of the Galeridu and a very few of the Oetitiithe are to be seen on 

 the top, where little plateaux thickly covered with halfa and a number of low 

 plants exist, and now and then a Caccabis petrosa sjiatzi. Besides these one 

 sees no birds on those heights, except now and then a Petronia, or flying overhead 

 some Neophron, a Golden Eagle, or Bearded Vulture, Ravens, and Ked-liilled 

 Choughs, which nest on steep clitFs. 



By the end of April we wended our way northwards again and stayed a few 

 days in the large town of Constantine, the Oirta of Roman times (PI. XV., 

 bottom). The stupendous ravine of the Hummel, which traverses the middle of 

 tlie town, was full of bird life : Egyptian Vultures and White f^torks nested in it, 

 actually hundreds of Lesser and Common Kestrels, swarms of Jackdaws and 

 Rock Pigeons, and numerous Alpine Swifts ; standing in the street in some 

 places one could see these birds sailing or dashing underneath along the ravine, 

 while close behind roared the trafiic of the town — omnibuses, heavy carts, and 

 carriages, also men of most varied nations, Berbers, Arabs, Mauretauian Jews, 

 French and Italians. 



From Constantine we returned to Algiers, the neighbourhood of which is 

 much finer in May thau in winter, when it is visited by many thousands of tourists, 

 of whom very few stay on till May, and hardly any one into June. Yet, the 

 luxuriance of the foliage and the wild flowers, the song of the Nightingales 

 in every suitable place, and the warm, yet not too hot temperature, are perfection, 

 and the eye of an entomologist is gladdened by the sight of a good many butter- 

 flies, among them Swallow-tails and Charaxen jasius — though the number of 

 species is nothing comjiared with what one sees in the Alps and Pyrenees, or 

 in some tropical countries, during the right time of the year. 



During this trip we had no taxidermist with us, and Hartert did all the 

 skinning; only in Biskra J. Steiubach, the well-known South American collector, 

 skinned some mammals for us and helped us when we had large birds or an 

 unusual number on one day. We brought home on this occasion 37G bird-skins. 



On February 18, 1009, we left England the second time for Algeria, aud 

 this time we had secured the services of Mr. Carl Hilgert, who accompanied 

 the late Baron von Erlanger during his travels in Tunisia and his journey to 

 Abyssinia and through Somaliland into East Africa. 



We reached Algiers on February 22, after a good voyage. It was pleasantly 

 warm, but the nights cold, aud vegetation and insect life were less advanced 

 thau the year before at the same time, though a few Zi/yaciM alyira were caught, 



