( 538 ) 



tlyiiig to and fro from rock to rock. They doalitless nest in otluT localities as 

 well — as, for exaiufile, on the river banks near Bojijliari — ami are jiassing through 

 South Algeria in March, having been noticed and shot at El Kantara and Biskra. 

 Sometimes they migrate in big flocks; more than twenty were seen together 

 one day in March near El Kantara. 



166. Palco tinnunculus L. 



Tlie Kestrels from X.W. Africa vary very mnch. While some are nndonbtedly 

 jialer than the majority of European ones, others are quite as dark and even, some- 

 times, richer marked and coloured. We are, tlierefore, as yet uncertain wljetlier 

 a N. W. African race can be separated or not. 



The Common Kestrel is found all the year iduiid all over Algeria. It nests 

 from the Northern Atlas mountains to the bare rocky clitl's in the Northern Sahara, 

 near Biskra and Zaatsha. Professor Koenig saw it also near Wargla and a few 

 times in the M'zab country. The southernmost places where we observed and 

 obtained specimens were in Temacin, sonth of Tonggourt, and in the dayats near 

 Tilrhempt. Its nests are placed on clilfs (Coustantine, Biskra, El Kantara), on 

 stee]> river banks (Boghari), and on trees (Batna, according to Koenig) ; Tilrhemi)t, 

 on terebinth trees. 



107. Falco peregrinus punicus Lev. 



(It mnst be pointed out that the name iii.rliartif: cannot possibly be used fur lliis 

 form, as it was merely based on a figure and description by Albin, which is absolntely 

 unidentifiable. Moreover there is only one resident race of this group in Algeria 

 and Tunisia, and that is undoubtedly the Manretanian race of the Peregrine, as 

 shown by the Sjiaiiish and Sardinian races, which stand in the middle between 

 the North European Peregrine and that from N.W. Africa. The name j/iinicus of 

 Levaillaut jun. refers to this bird, which thus becomes Falco peregrinus punicus.) 



There is little doubt that this form predominates over F. biarmicus erlnngeri 

 in Northern Tnuisia. We have a specimen from the neighbourhood of Hamniam 

 Me.skontine, and we believe that we distinctly recognised it on the Ujebel Taya, and 

 near Lambese, while other Falcons which we saw might as well have been F. bianiiicux 

 erlangeri. 



Mr. Riggeiibach sent us a splendid series from the neighbourhood of Mogador 

 and Djebel Tixa in the Moroccan Atlas. Three eggs from the South Moroccan Atlas 

 measure 53 x 4()-5, 53'6 x 39'5, and oil x 30 mm. 



168. Falco biarmicus erlangeri Kleinsehm. 



This form differs from F. biarmicus tamjpUrus only by its somewhat smaller 

 size, the wings being 1 — 2 cm. shorter ; the females have the wings only from 3:io 

 up to 358 mm. Professor Neumann {Joarn. J. Urn. li)U4. pp. 360 — 371j has 

 already stated this fact, but since then we have e.xamiued a large series, Riggenbach 

 having sent 16 adult and 27 young specimens of this Falcon. The markings of the 

 head vary even more than Erianger has shown on his plate. The cross-barring on 

 the feathers of the uiqierside is sometimes present, sometimes not, and this does not, 

 seem to depend on age. 



This Falcon unihmbtedly i)redominates in Sonth Algeria over F. jn'rcgrinus 

 punicus. The Falcons we saw kept by the late Bashaga's falconer in Biskra were 



