154 Rev. H. B. Tristram on the 



debate turned on the necessity of enlarging the boundaries of 

 France. " Annex Spain/^ said one. " The Spaniards cannot 

 fight unless the English help them." " Three regiments of 

 Zouaves could overrun Spain/' added another. " But what 

 would our English allies say to it ? " interrupted a third. 

 " Bah ! let the English send two regiments of Ecossais and 

 take Portugal for their share. We will spare them that/' 

 replied the first. [" France is omnipotent, the army is France, 

 and we are a match for all the rest of the army/' is the idee fixe 

 of every Zouave.] 



Before dawn, my new acquaintance was by my side in fatigue 

 dress ; and after a hasty cup of coffee and a glass of quinine (a 

 very necessary precaution), we are in the tamarisk grove. A 

 little bird, something like a hen Redstart in appearance, glides 

 through the bushes. " What is that ? " " Becfin Passerinette." 

 At length my companion brings him down. It is a prize indeed. 

 The first Sylvia subalpina I have seen, and well shot. Soon we 

 come on a little flock of them restlessly hopping from twig to 

 twig ; but no nests are yet to be found. They have evidently 

 not yet begun to breed. We hear the reeling of Savi's Warbler 

 [Sylvia luscindides) again and again, but that part of the marsh 

 is too deep for us to explore without poles. The Thrush Night- 

 ingale [Sylvia turddides) keeps up an incessant din on all sides ; 

 and I miss a Bittern as it rises quietly as an owl, almost from 

 our feet. We turn back to the drier part of the thicket ; and 

 one, two, three, nests of Hippolais salicaria, with their full com- 

 plement of eggs, reward us in quick succession. Very differ- 

 ent is the position and texture of its nest from that of our 

 Willow Wrens. It is extremely compact and neat, not unlike 

 that of the Goldfinch in general appearance, and not larger, 

 placed generally on the bare fork or branch of a tamarisk, with- 

 out the slightest attempt at concealment. The complement 

 of eggs rarely exceeds four. As I pass a tall tuft of grass, I 

 bend its top, and disclose the nest of Sylvia melanocephala, the 

 commonest but not the least beautiful of the Warblers of North- 

 ern Algeria, where it is a constant resident. It builds some- 

 times in hedges or bushes, but more frequently in tall grass or 

 herbage. The nest is loose, but very neat and round, and com- 



