KOVITATES ZOOLOOICAE XXII. 1915. 73 



than in 1912. Some distance from Ain-Oassera Chersophilas was not qnite rave, 

 bnt these little brown birds rnn very swiftly over the gronnd, and harmonise so 

 wonderfully with the soil that they are easily overlooked. They are generally 

 shier than other larks, and it takes qnite a time to get a series. The song by which 

 their presence is easily detected is either as described above, or " tsii didla didla 

 diii," the last note almost like the call-note of Ammomanes plioenicura arenicolor. 

 A male coming to the nest once uttered a churring " terrrrrrrr." The song is 

 uttered while the male soars skywards until it is almost lost to sight, often higher 

 than skylarks. 



On Blay 13, at the same time when full-grown young were running about, 

 a nest with three fresh eggs was found. Though fresh, the clutch was completed, 

 as we left it undisturbed for twenty-four hours, until the morning of our departure. 

 The parents were rather shy, and it took a long time before they came back 

 to the nest. 



The nest stood rather deep and well hidden under a bush of Artemisia herba- 

 alba and consisted almost entirely of rootlets, fibres and twigs, with one small bunch 

 of hair. Another empty nest stood under a halfa bush, very well hidden, and without 

 any hairs, feathers, or vegetable wool ; both also qnite without a rampart of stones. 

 The eggs resemble some varieties of the Skylark ; their ground-colour is a very pale 

 brown and the markings are of a darker brown, bold on one, very fine on another, 

 and intermediate on the third ; one egg has fine black hair-lines. The eggs are 

 thick, the thin end rather pointed, and measure 2-lr-6 x IT'?, 23-8 x 17'0, and 

 24-4 X 18 mm. 



The Chersojjhihis of the Hants Plateaux is undoubtedly the typical dark form 

 Ck. duponti duponti. The young birds have the npperside more rnfous, most of the 

 feathers have creamy white tips, and the deep brown centres are less developed than 

 in the adult birds. The narrow white nuchal collar is very conspicuous. The 

 feathers of the chest have roundish (not longitudinal) brown tips and creamy white 

 fringes. 



We have not seen a sign of Ckersophilus on the Oued Ncja, nor anywhere in the 

 south. Tristram {Ibis, 1859, p. 427) says he shot the bird on the Oued Nna, where, 

 he says, Loche also collected it. In the catalogue of his collection, Tristram 

 mentions specimens from Ouargla and " near Mzab," which would probably mean 

 Ghardaia. Loche says " Ras-Nili," a place which I cannot find, unless it is near 

 the caravanserai of Nili between Laghouat and Ghardaia. The specimens in the 

 Tristram collection, kindly sent me from Liverpool by the authorities of the Museum, 

 are: two labelled Ouargla ("Waregla") December 1856, and one received from 

 Loche, " Sahara, near Mzab." I doubt the full correctness of these statements. 

 First of all, the statements do not agree, as Ouargla, Oued Nra and Mzab are not 

 the same, and " Ras Nili " is apparently still another place. Moreover so far south 

 one would surely expect the South Tunisian Chersophilm duponti margaritae, and 

 nobody has since come across Ckersophilus near Ouargla, on the Oned N(;a, or at 

 Ghardaia — neither we, nor Koenig, Spatz, Fromholz, or Geyr von Schweppenburg. 

 I doubt, therefore, if Chersophilas duponti duponti is found near Onargla and on 

 the Oued Nga, and its occurrence in Algeria south of the Saharan or Southern Atlas 

 has still to be verified. It may occur in the region of the Dayats, but we have there 

 searched for it in vain in 1911. The neighbourhood of Ouargla appears to be quite 

 unsuited for it, and if a Ckersophilus should live there, it would not be C. d. duponti, 

 but either margaritae or another subspecies. 



