292 Mr. J. H. Gurncy, Jun., on the Ornithology of Algeria. 



they sleep. Scratching her head with her foot, or scraping 

 her bill against the mortar, concluded her toilet, which occupied 

 from three to five minutes. As I afterwards found other nests, 

 I was able to make further observations. I think the eggs must 

 be deposited in March, as in most instances the young had been 

 hatched off. Judging from the one at Berryan, which had 

 flown when I returned to that place on the last day of the 

 month, the young remain in the nest at least twenty-one days. 

 On the 23rd of April I saw a nestling full-grown and able to feed 

 itself, which must have been hatched about the 1st. The eggs 

 are rather like Sparrows* eggs, but rounder. I only got three ; 

 Dr. Tristram did not get any ; and there are none in the Museum 

 at Algiers. The nest is generally, but not always, placed in a 

 hole, and is composed of twigs or little sticks, and lined with hair, 

 with sometimes the addition of wool or a bit of cotton. On one 

 occasion two were found together, which probably belonged to 

 the same bii'd, as one of them was unfinished. The young are 

 less noisy than Sparrows. The female brings them food about 

 every ten minutes ; and they never chirp except when they see 

 her. I never could detect any thing in her beak, or see on what 

 she fed them, although I watched the operation often ; so I do 

 not doubt that she reproduces what she has eaten for the benefit 

 of her callow offspring. Until the young leave the nest the 

 male takes no share in feeding them. The female bears away 

 the fseces. The males sing much the loudest ; indeed the 

 females never do more than twitter ; but the cock pours forth a 

 lively strain during the season of incubation. They are as tame 

 as Robins. Frequently one would hop upon our carpet, to 

 search for fragments of couscous, scrutinizing us within a few 

 feet with his dark brown trustful eye. They are nearly omni- 

 vorous. I caught one in a trap baited with grain, and saw 

 another nibbling green carrot-leaf; and once the female, at 

 Berryan, made her appearance with a large fly, which was not 

 swallowed without a great effort and after much mastication. 

 They used to drink out of our goatskin, fluttering and clinging 

 to the wall for the moisture which had oozed through. Half 

 circles of accumulated droppings under the rafters showed where 

 they roosted. For a few seconds before settling down for the 



