68 KoVlTATrS ZOOLOGICAE XXIt. 1915. 



river-bed. Tliey were exceedinglj- shy, and we obtained only a single male, which 

 is a typical hispaniolensis. This is very interesting, because the M'zab country is, 

 as far as we have been able to observe, entirely inhabited by P. domesticns 

 tingitanus, more or less pnre ; at Ghardaia and Gnerrara no specimen with qnite 

 red crown or any stripes on the sides could be procured or observed. It is 

 evident, however, tliat flocks of .Sparrows immigrate occasionally ; thus, besides 

 this one at Hassi-llebib, where they did not nest and were not known to the Arabs, 

 a similar but smaller flock was observed at one of the lonely bordjs between 

 Tonggourt and El-Oiied, far away from any inhabited jilace, in April I'JOU. 



I'l. Rhamphocoi-ys clot-bey Bp. 



See Nov. Zuol .xxi, 1914, p. UK), pi. viii. 



Near Biskra this magnificent Lark is very rare during the breeding season. 

 That it breeds there in small numbers is certain. On March 22, 1909, Hilgert 

 shot a pair two miles from Biskra, the female of which had strongly enlarged 

 eggs which would have been laid in about eight or ten days. On April 12, 1913, 

 Count Zedlitz shot a pair about ten or twelve kilometres from Biskra, and in 

 1912 Messrs. H. M. Wallis and C. E. Pearson found young ones, which had just 

 left the nest, on April 8, about six miles south of Biskra. This year Mr. Rothschild, 

 Hilgert and I went over the same spot where Count Zedlitz shot the birds, 

 and probably also to the place where Messrs. Wallis and Pearson discovered 

 the young birds, but we did not see or hear anything of the " tarsha," as it is 

 called by some Arabs (though only the nomads know this name, the townspeople 

 of Biskra being acquainted with hardly any names of birds). 



We failed also to come across the " tarsha " east of Gnerrara, where we 

 found it in 1912; but west of that town, nearing the Oued-Nra, we saw it, and 

 it nested in the hammada all round Hassi-Rebib, though by no means in great 

 numbers. 



Clutches of two, three, and four eggs were obtained on April 19, 22, and 

 23. All were fresh, but the clutches of two eggs were probably not complete. 

 The date of the young birds found by Messrs. Wallis and Pearson near Biskra 

 is an exceptionally early one, according to the experience of Professor Koenig and 

 of ourselves in AVest Algeria in 1913. According to our observations the second 

 half and end of Ajiril is the best time for finding the eggs. 



The nests and eggs agree fully with those found near Ain-Sefra, but the 

 majority of nests stood under the bushes of Haloxj/lon articidatum, which here 

 almost entirely replace the Artemisia herba-alba of the Hants Plateaux. The 

 eggs are generally rather elongate and always much more pointed on the thin 

 end, only a few being considerably shorter. The markings apjiear either in small 

 dots, almost uniformly spread over the surface of the eggs, or in larger patches, 

 less thickly spread, and often forming a zone round the thick end. Sometimes 

 the reddish spots are darker, more brownish, and the ground-colour is purer white 

 and more evident. The following are the outside measurements : 



Clutch of three, 23. iv. 1914: 29 x 184, 27-9 x 18-7, 25-7 x 188 mm. 



Clutch of two, 27. iv. 1914: 28-7 x 19, 28-7 x 18-4 mm. 



Clutch of four, 22. iv. 1914: 267 x 16-9, 2(5-.5 x 18-2, 26-2 x 17, 2.')-7 x 

 17'4 mm. 



Clutch of two (third broken), 23. iv. 1914: 23-G x 18-4, 23G x 18-2 mm. 



