THE ALGERIAN SAHARA. 5/ 



thorough .satisfaction with our entertainment, to be followed 

 by a more tangible present of silk burnouses when we got 

 to Laghouat, we trod once more the inhospitable desert. 

 One of them was good enough to say he would accompany 

 me, and I further availed myself of the convoy of two 

 S/'a/iis, who had been sent with letters from Laghouat. 

 The first day's journey was performed in a sharp sirocco 

 wind, and the only rare bird seen was a Houbara Bustard. 

 I noticed however a Lizard, about two feet long, running 

 over the stones in the barest part of the sterile chcbka. I 

 had one brought to me at Laghouat which was more than 

 three feet long. Berard, in his " Indicateur," says, " On 

 trouve le Pleitiondon Aldrovandi ou Scinque C}'prien, 

 gracieux lezard a bee de poisson qui plonge dans le sables 

 comme un poisson dans I'eau." Perhaps this was the species 

 I saw. The next morning I shot Aninioniancs rcgtiljis, a 

 pretty little sand-coloured Lark, described in 1857 by Prince 

 Bonaparte (Canon Tristram terms it "a very scarce bird," 

 and I believe justly,) and Saxicola evytJircca (Ehr), ^. Jialo- 

 pJdla (Trist.), erroneously given in my list in the " Ibis " as 

 S. JiouiocJiroa. 



When the Chebka Mzab w^as passed, I had further oppor- 

 tunity of examining the Dayats. It was now the period of 

 migration (May 2nd), and where there was water they were 

 teeming with life. It was as if all the spring migrants of 

 Southern Europe had been compressed into fifty acres. 

 Beneath every jujube tree — at every thicket — were massed 

 and congregated all manner of rare birds : — Pied Flycatchers, 

 Hoopoes, Doves, Rollers, Woodchats — Warblers without 

 end, seeking shelter from the burning midday sun. The 

 Neophron (Neophron pcrcnoptcnis ) and the hoarse croaking 

 Raven perched upon the taller Terebinths. Different sorts 

 of Sandpipers flew before us, mingling with noisy Shrikes, 

 while dozing Little Owls, awakened by our approach, dashed 

 out from the deep foliage and hid themselves again. The 



