THE ALGERIAN SAHARA. 2/ 



but since assigned in Dresser's " Birds of Europe " (Part 

 24 and 25, p. 3) to C. albicollis (Vicill). Loche says of it 

 in the " Exploration Scientifique," p. 306 — 



"Le cincle plongeur, que nous n'avons rencontre que tres 

 accidentellement en Algerie y semble excessivement rare, et il est 

 supposable qu'il ne doit y etre que de passage." 



But M. Germain, at p. 6^, says : — 



"Sedentaire — Se recontre sur le cours de \oucd — Anasscur 

 (Milianah)." 



On the 1 6th I caught a green Lizard, about a foot and a 

 quarter long, but having nothing to preserve it in, set it at 

 liberty. While I was in the " Tell,"* and afterwards in the 

 Sahara, I had not much time to attend to anything but 

 birds. I however made notes of a Water Tortoise at 

 Miliana, of a Weasel (apparently the same as ours), of some 

 Bats, and of Foxes in the rocks at Boghari, and of a few 

 other things which will be mentioned in the course of my 

 narrative. 



On the 17th I took the Diligence to Boumedfa, a village 

 stated to contain about 270 inhabitants, (though I should 

 have supposed it much less,) and leaving again on the i8th, 

 moved to the fortified town of Miliana. Miliana is a place 

 of considerable importance. Its ornithology has been 

 worked by Monsieur Germain, but I \vas not aware of the 

 existence of his paper, or I should not have been so much 

 surprised at meeting with Rnticilla ]lIoitssicri,-\ a beautiful 

 bird of restricted range, which he makes the subject of a 

 long note ; or at shooting Pants Icdoiicii (Malh.), figured in 

 Sharpe and Dresser's " Birds of Europe," and the only 



^ The " Tell " is the mountainous country of the Atlas, from the sea 

 to the commencement of the Sahara. 



f In Captain Shelley's collection I recently noticed a male marked 

 " Blida, ist of March, 1S73." 



