( 521 ) 

 119. Dandalus rubecula wither byi Hart. 



Voff. pal. Fauna i. p. 753. 



This form is indeed difficult to distinguish, yet it would be rash to neglrct it. 

 It seems that the rufous of the throat is darker tliau in I), r. rubecula, and that, 

 the beak is stouter, without reaching the proportions of D. r. melophilus. Other 

 differences are evidently not constant. 



Wii shot an undoubted witherbyi at Hammam R'hira on May 20. These 

 birds were not very rare in the woods near Hammam R'hira. Mr. Witherby also 

 found the Robin breeding near Blidah Glacieres. 



In the habits there is no difference between this and other Robins. Oftlie 

 birds shot in winter, a male shot near Algiers February 25, 1909, and a male from 

 Hammam Meskoutiue, February 4, 1911, seem to belong to this form. 



120. Erithacus rubecula rubecula (L.j. 



Robins are very common in winter in Algeria, especially near Hammam 

 Meskoutiue and Algiers, and they are not rare near Biskra on migration in 

 February and March. They all seem to belong to the North and Central Europe.in 

 form, with the exception of the above-mentioned specimens. 



121. Troglodytes troglodytes kabylorum Hart. 



Vog. jml. Fauna i. p. 78U. 



The Algerian Wren is not rare in certain suitable places in the Atlas 

 Mountains, at Hammam R'hira, Hammam Meskoutiue, near Batna and Lambe.se, 

 and in the gardens and neighbourhood of Algiers. It differs from T. t. troglodytes 

 in being more olive, less reddish, on the upperside, and having a thicker and 

 generally longer bill. 



A clutch of five hard-set eggs was taken near Algiers on May 5. The eggs 

 are well marked, and measure 15-7 x 12-5, 15-9 x 121, 16-1 x 12-2, 166 x 126 

 and 17-2 x 12-2 mm. Two single eggs were found on May 16, and these two 

 were also hard set ! Young birds were flying about at Hammam R'hira on 

 May 19. 



122. Cinclus cinclus minor Tristr. 



This bird was named by Tri.stram under the erroneous notion that it was 

 smaller than European Dippers, because he compared a single female with a few 

 Eurojiean ones, which were probably all males. We only came across it in one 

 single place — i.e., in the Gorge de Chiffa, where it inhabited a mountain torrent 

 near the Ruisseau des Binge.s. The accompanying photograph e.vactly shows its 

 home, where we saw it on the very branches seen in the photo (see p. 464). The 

 single female we obtained does not show the long bill, which is remarkable 

 in the specimens from Morocco and Djebel ('helia, where Mr. Fliickiger found it. 

 In fact this female only differs from (.'entral European Dippers in the more 

 olive-brown head and neck, which is also darker than in G. c. meridlonalis (the 

 C. c. albicoUis of Dresser and other authors). (Cf. Hartert, IV/y. jjal. Fauna, 

 i., p. 793.) 



123. Chelidon rustica rustica (L.). 



The common Swallow is — and has always been — a very common breeding 

 bird in Algeria, from the sea-shore apparently south to the northern edge of the 



