( 529 ) 



obtained a single one, which was given him at Oued Taga, at the foot of Djebel 

 Mahmel. We never saw one alive until 1911, when we shot an adult male on 

 the steep bank of a river-bed south of Biskra on February 2. On May 25 and 31 

 we killed two adnlt males at Hammam R'hira, and two half-grown nestlings were 

 brought to us by an Arab, who took them from the roof of a building. One we 

 bought at Constantine. Once we heard the note near Hammam Meskoutine, 

 and we were told that Barn-owls were not rare at Batna and near Algiers. 



14S. Athene noctua glaiix (Sav.). 



Without being able, at the moment, to go into an exact study of all the 

 geographical forms of the " Little Owl," we have compared onr series of Egyptian, 

 Algerian, and Moroccan specimens, and come to the conclusion that the old 

 way of uniting all of them under the name glaax is at least much better than 

 their separation into ten subspecies, two of which received new names, by Herrn 

 Kleinschmidt, Falco iii. (1907) pp. 65, 60, and v. (1909) p. 19. 



Comparing four specimens collected by Messrs. N. C. Rothschild and Wollaston 

 at Cairo, and a nnmber of Egyptian specimens in the Brehm collection, with onr 

 twelve Algerian, three Tunisian, and fifteen Moroccan skins, we cannot find any 

 constant characters by which to separate them. 



It is true that the specimens from the Brehm collection from Egypt are 

 more rufous than our Algerian ones, but those from (Jairo are of the same colour 

 as the latter. It is also true that the type of Brehm's intercedens from Am Mokra, 

 near Bone, is more rufous than our own series of Algerian specimens from South 

 Algeria ; but it seems that Brehm's skins have become somewhat darker and 

 reddish through having been kept in dark boxes, and evidently sometimes not ipiite 

 dry enough. In no case can we judge from this single specimen that North 

 Algerian specimens belong to a darker and more rufescent race than those from 

 South Algeria — especially not inOwls, which often vary very greatly in their general 

 coloration. Moroccan specimens (named rujvj.olov by Kleinschmidt) agree in 

 every respect with those from Biskra. Riggenbach sent us a fine series from 

 Mazagan, Rahamna and Mogador ; they vary in size like Algerian ones. 



If, in the end, several forms could be separated in North Africa, the North 

 Algerian form would have to be called A. noctua numida Levaillant jun. 1850, 

 and Brehm's intercedens 185>i wonld be a synonym. No doubt Levaillaut's {)late 

 i.s too red, but so are several others of his figures, and Loche seemed to think that 

 the plate in question was not unsatisfactory. Should any South Algerian birds be 

 separable, then this might rather be the case with those from the M'zab country 

 and the dayats. Two specimens we shot at Tilrhem])t are rather light, but they 

 are not alike, one only being very pale, the other hardly different, though a little 

 more reddish than a series from Biskra. Kleinschmidt, however, called the Biskra 

 form " Strix sa/iarae" (Falco v. 1909. p. 19). 



We never came across these Owls in North Algeria proper, but saw a number 

 near Boghari, and collected a series of ten near Biskra. At Tilrhempt we ouly 

 shot two, but saw one each there and east of Ghardaia, which we unfortunately 

 did not get. They, too, appeared to be rather pale. It must, however, not be 

 forgotten that Owls vary in most cases, and that there is a good deal of variation in 

 tlie Biskra series. 



This Owl lives among rocks, as well as on steep river banks near Biskra 

 and Boghari, and in the trees of the dayats. 



