THE ALGERIAN SAHARA. 33 



Ain-oussera, and the shadows lengthen, one feels inclined to 

 speculate on the not distant period when bands of lawless 

 Bedouins roamed over the desert now so completely brought 

 under French jurisdiction. Should the Nomads again 

 break out, a (ew days will suffice to bring a column from 

 Algiers sufficient to subdue any insurrection. Aleanwhile 

 the Barbary states remain at peace, from the palm-shaded 

 oases of Tripoli to the bazaars and gardens of Moorish 

 Tangiers, and not even the reverses in the terrible Franco- 

 German war emboldened the Bedouin to attempt another 

 rising, so deep is their respect for the "chassepot," and for 

 French military organisation. 



February \2tJ1. Breakfasted sumptuously offaHoubara 

 Bustard (Houbara uiidulata, Bp.), an agreeable change after 

 the customary meal of goat. This magnificent bird is still 

 common. I saw three at Ain-oussera, and afterwards at 

 Lairhouat no less than seven were brought to me. In one 

 old cock the feathers which composed the ruff were seven 

 inches long. 



The master of the caravanserai killed a pair of Grey- 

 headed Wagtails. I afterwards obtained some brilliant 

 specimens at Laghouat. One had a white throat, dark 

 ear-coverts, and no white line from the eye to the beak. 

 But this variety, generally called Biidytes einereicapida 

 (Savi), merges on one side into B. flava (L.), and on the 

 other to B. melanoccpJiala (Liclit), and has no constant 

 characters to establish its specific difference. Loche ob- 

 tained the three, and treats them as separate (Catalogue, 

 p. 80) ; but subsequent research has proved that B. ciiicreica- 

 Dilla at any rate is not a good species. 



It was not until the 13th of March that I noticed a Hoopoe 

 (UpHpa cpops). It happened to be Sunday, and I was re- 

 clining on a stack, when at a distance I observed what at 

 first I took to be some great Creeper coming right at me. 

 I marked where he settled, watched his habits a considerable 



D 



