80 Mr. J. H. Gurney, Jun.j on the Ornithology of Algeria. 



learnt to hop among the Arab tents, feeding upon what they 

 find among the small stones &c. 



39. Saxicola (ENANTHE (Linn.). Wheatear. Yarrell, B. B. 

 i. p. 253. 



Common. 



40. Saxicola STAPAZINA (Linn.). Russet Wheatear. Gould, 

 B. ofE. ii. p. 91. 



This seems to be the Chat which is found in the Tell in 

 summer, and of which I obtained one specimen only in the 

 Sahara. It frequents the sea-shore at A-lgiers, and not the 

 dunes only, but also the rocks by the edge of the water. Its 

 flight is just like that of S. cenanthe ; it goes from stone to 

 stone with expanded tail ; and when it has selected a pei'ch, it 

 remains motionless some time, though not always facing the in- 

 truder. It can perch with equal ease upon a stalk or house-top, 

 and even hover for a few seconds in the air. The same pair 

 appear to keep near the same spot for days. 



41. Saxicola lugens (Licht.). Mourning Chat. Gould, 

 B. ofE. ii. p. 89. 



It was only on the dreary route between Gardaia and Berryan, 

 where there is scarcely a particle of herbage to harbour insects, 

 that I observed this bird, except in one instance, when I shot a 

 specimen at Mellika; and it would seem that, unlike its con- 

 geners, Dromulcpa leuco'pygia and D. leucocephala, it but rarely 

 enters oases. On the Berryan route many pairs were seen, 

 mingled, though not actually consorting with, a few S. deserti. 



42. Saxicola deserti (Riipp.). Desert- Wheatear. 



Seems to be the most universally distributed in the Sahara 

 of all those Chats which usually occupy a very limited area, 

 Dromolcea leucura is found in the mountains ; D. kucopygia and 

 D. leucocephala affect the oases ; S. lugens inhabits the stony 

 Chebka Mzab, and S. philothamna the wide rolling prairie. 

 But S. deserti is a great exception. It is abundant from Boug- 

 zoul to Gardaia, adapting itself to the food found in the Mzab 

 and the Hants Plateaux. All across the Algerian Sahara it was 

 seen repeatedly, giving utterance to its lively song, which can be 



