(475) 



The most striking difference is, perhaps, the small size of the Algerian form. 

 The wiags of seventeen males measure 96 to 09, once only 94, and once KJO mm., 

 while the wings of thirty European males measure 102 to lii8, only in four instances 

 as little as 100-5 and 100. 



The females of C. coccothraustcs bacn/i differ iu size of bill and wings, much 

 paler and more greyish crown, and in their paler and less yellowish rump and 

 upper tail-coverts. The wings of seven Algerian females measure 90 to 98 and 

 one 99 mm. 



The iris of the males is pale grey, that of the females duller and more brownish 

 grey, the feet are of a brownish flesh-colour, and the bills — our whole series 

 consisting of spring specimens — are bluish, or more correctly basally pale bluish 

 grey, with the lateral parts and tip bluish slate, and the lower jaw whitish in 

 the middle. 



We only met with the Hawfinch in three places : at Batna and its sur- 

 roundings, as far as the woods above Larabese ; at Algiers ; and at Hammam 

 Meskoutine. At Batna they were common and in flocks during the first week 

 of May. One saw them in the trees in the middle of the little town, and in the 

 gardens around, busily engaged iu feeding upon the green seeds of the elm-trees 

 which began to ripen. We saw them also along the roads to Lambese, and a few 

 in the forests above Lambese. Later on, during the second half of May we saw 

 them singly and in pairs near Hammam Meskoutine. They were generally not in 

 the least shy, but rather tame. 



111. Loxia curvirostra poliogyna Whit. 



We obtained a single male, partially dull red, partially yellowish green near 

 Algiers town on February T,, 1909. It shows the high and tliick beak of the 

 N.W. African form. 



Wing : 96'5 mm. 



One of us heard Crossbills in the high Aleppo pines near Lambese, but could 

 not get sight of a specimen. 



In 1911 we found the Crossbill (juite common iu the pine-wooJs near Algiers 

 in Janiuiry. Young striped birds were shot, an adult female with large breeding 

 patch and an almost full-grown egg, on January 27, 1911. Also an adult male 

 which shows very little red; in fact, briglit red males of this race appear to be rare. 

 Crossbills — young striped ones and old — svere also seen aui heard iu May near 

 Hammam R'hira. The olil female shows hardly any green. 



11. Chloris chloris aurantiiventris (<'ab.). 



This form was first described from a male from the south of France. 

 Specimens from N.W. Africa, Spain, and South France do not seem to 

 diti'er, and they form a rather distinct, brighter, more yellow subspecies of 

 6'. chloris chloris. 



According to Whitaker {B. Tunisia, i. p. 197; the northern form {C. c. chloris) 

 occurs in winter iu Algeria. We have not tried to collect Greenfinches in winter, 

 though we have observed small flocks near Algiers. 



(J. c. aurantiicentris breeds commonly in the wooded ilistricls of Northern 

 Algeria from Algiers to Batna and Lambese, and farther west as far south as 

 LaKhouat. We collected a series of males and some eggs near Hammam Meskoutine 



